Demon's Angel
by WandereofWorlds
Summary: A piece of Kurt's past comes back to him. They called her a demon, while he saw an Angel. OC/Kurt Lemons much later.
1. Chapter 1

The ground under his feet felt hard as he ran through the densely wooded forest. His face was clouded over with the wet tears that still seeped out of his glowing yellow eyes. He ran blindly into the forest trying desperately to run away from his memories.

Earlier that day his whole life had been turned upside down and all it took were three little words, "He's a monster!"

Kurt had always been with his parents. His world consisted of them, the small farm, and the woods outback that he played in. He had never gone into town and had never thought of why he looked the way he did. This was just the way he was. He had deep blue skin that was covered in a short coat of soft fur. His ears came to a point at each tip and his dark blue hair hung down to his jaw line. When he smiled two fangs were visible. His hands held three fingers while his feet had only two large toes. Beginning where his spine should end his long tail began and it ended in a spade shape. This was just the way he was.

This morning was just like any other. He awoke got dressed in a plain T-shirt and some khaki shorts that he had to fasten on with a belt because of his slim waist size. He ran out of his small room and into the kitchen just in time to greet his mother as she was making breakfast. He ran and hugged her as she spun around and gave him a heart warming smile.

"Good morning honey. Are you ready for breakfast?" She asked in a cheery tone.

"Yes mama! I'm ready to eat!" He announced in his childish manner. His mother watched as her son climbed into one of the chairs that surrounded the old wooden table where she had laid out a small breakfast for her son and husband.

Her husband came in from the hot morning of working in the fields with the plow. "Daddy!" yelled her son as her husband came and sat down in one of the old and chipping chairs.

"How are the fields looking dear?" She asked her husband as he wiped a cloth over his sweat strewn face.

"Not to good unfortunately…" He said as he started to put food on his plate. "What's wrong? Is the soil too dry?" She asked with a worried look on her face.

"No it's the seeds. They're far too old and dried up to grow anything." He said as he helped his son fill his plate with small portions leaving enough for his wife.

"Well what does that mean?" She asked her voice filled with worry. Their only money came from selling the crops and the odd jobs her husband got.

"That means that we will have to go into town and get some more seeds for the fields." He said as he inspected his sons blue hands for dirt.

"That's just wonderful then…" She said with a sigh.

"Mom we get to go to town?" asked her excited son as he began to shift eagerly in his chair.

"Honey I don't know if you're old enough to go to town yet." She said shooting a concerned look at her husband who had the same worry embedded in his brow.

"But mom I'm already seven years old…" He said as he pouted silently not looking either of his parents in the eye. Both of his parents had the same thoughts rushing through their heads. While they looked like every other human their "son" was so very different from everyone else. They had found him on a foggy morning floating down the river that ran close to their farm. They had decided to keep the oddity that the river had given them but from that day that he first learned of the outside world they knew that they would have to try and protect their little river gift from the rest of the world that wouldn't understand or accept him. He didn't look like the rest of the world but he was a much better person than most other people.

"Son I don't know if going to the town is the best idea right now." His mother said.

"But mom I promise that I'll be good, really, I will be the best!" He promised her with a pleading look in his eyes.

"Darling you're always good but town is just not the friendliest place at times." She said try to deter him.

"Oh, ok mom…" He said. Her son looked down at his feet and sighed.

"Son you can come with us to town." His father said. She looked at her husband with wide eyes. Had he momentarily gone insane?

"Um…?" She said with a hand on her husbands shoulder.

"Really dad? You really mean it?" asked his excited son as he practically jumped up and down in the old chair.

"Of course son." he said as he turned to look at his wife and saw a very shocked and very worried looking woman with questions plastered all over her face.

"Oh! Thank you dad thank you so much!" squealed his son with a huge smile firmly in place on his face.

"But" he said as he looked at his son, "You have to stay by the cart at all times."

'Thank you god!' she thought as she looked at her husband. How smart of him! The cart never actually went into town it always had to sit outside of the busy market, and if their son was to stay by the cart than no one could see him and he could watch the market. Oh, what a wonderfully clever man she had married.

It wasn't that they didn't want their son to see the outside world it was just that they didn't want to hurt him when he was so young, and they wanted to find others like him first so that way he wouldn't be totally alone. Until then they were going to protect him.

After saying grace and eating their meal they started to pack up what they would need for the three hour journey. Once they were all packed they set out on the dusty road.

Three hours later they arrived at the outskirts of the town. Now the town itself was very small, compared to most towns, but out in the rural community this had one of the larger markets.

The boy looked out from the back of the covered cart and watched as the town came closer and closer into his view. He had never seen a town before and this was something else. Buildings many times bigger than his house, the colors of the buildings were like he had never seen, and all of the noise that was coming from the town was like nothing he had ever heard. It was almost like a thunderstorm only the sound wasn't a threatening sound it was a busy sound that drifted over his elf like ears.

The cart came to a stop outside of the brightly colored gates with many other carts much like theirs.

"Now son your mother and I are going into town and I don't want you to leave the cart under any circumstances. Do you understand me?"

"Yes father. I will guard the cart!" He said excitedly as his tail wagged back and forth with the anticipation of watching the town longer.

"Good boy." His father said as he walked away with a small bag slung over his shoulder with trading stuffs.

"Be sure to not leave the cart honey." His mother reminded him as she too walked away towards the town.

He sat there in the cart and looked around himself. He was surrounded by other carts that all looked similar to his. He sat down lazily with his head was poking out from the covering f the cart so that he could see. He sat like that for some time and closed his eyes so that he could listen to the town's sounds.

"Hey I think I found it!" yelled a voice from his left. Kurt perked up immediately at the sound of the voice and scanned the area. That was when he saw the little boy bending over to look under a cart close to his.

"Really you see it?" asked another voice. Another boy came up behind the one that was bending over and looked around under the carts as well.

"Did you guys find the ball yet?" asked a third voice that belonged to another boy. This boy was a bit taller than the other two. The first two looked a lot alike; they both had dark hair that hung in front of their eyes. The last boy had darker hair that was cut short around his face.

'A ball?' Kurt thought. Oh! That's right a ball. He glanced around himself from the cart searching for the round bouncy object. His eyes landed on a round bright green circle that was rolled underneath a nearby cart.

"I can't see it!" whined the littlest boy with the shaggy dark hair.

"Look harder!" demanded the tallest boy. All three of the boys scrambled around trying to look under the carts.

Kurt watched them from the cart and thought of saying something but then he had a better idea. 'If I give them the ball maybe they will talk with me.' He thought. As if receiving an answer he jumped out of the cart in a swift movement and set out towards the ball.

"I still can't see it!" the littlest complained again.

"Are you sure?" the others asked.

"Were you looking for this?" Kurt asked as he held up the ball in his three fingered hand.

The three boys all turned their heads in unison at his remark. Their faces were at first happy to see their ball, but the minute their eyes laid themselves on his figure they shifted from relief to fear in a second.

"What the hell is that?" screamed the eldest boy. The other two boys had the same fearful look plastered on their faces.

"It's your ball…" Kurt answered. The feeling of unease swept over him as the three boy's expressions changed from fear to disgust. He had only seen this expression once before when his mother had seen the rotting meat that his father had left outside. His mind took a wicked turn; was he nothing more than rotting meat to these boys? No he had brought back their ball. He wasn't what they were disgusted with, surly.

"Ewwww! That is the ugliest thing I've ever seen!" shrieked the littlest of the boys.

"Yeah, is it even human?" asked the middle aged boy looking up at the eldest boy.

"No way that ugly blue thing isn't human at all! He is a… He is a… He's a monster!" screamed the oldest, jerking his finger up to point at Kurt.

Kurt looked around trying to prove to himself that their repulsion wasn't directed towards him.

All of a sudden one of the boys flung a rock at him. The others started to join in soon after and before long Kurt was jumping this way and that trying to dodge the stones. He couldn't understand why the boys would want to throw rocks at him. One of the rocks hit his head and he could feel it cut his skin right above his brow.

"Hah! It does bleed! I wasn't sure with its ugly blue skin!" the eldest boy half yelled half laughed to the other two boys.

So it was his skin that they didn't like? Kurt was suddenly hit with the full force of the fact that none of the other people he had ever seen had blue skin like his, or hands, or even a tail! He stumbled back as more stones hit him. All at once Kurt dropped the ball, turned, and ran.

Tears dripped down from his face as the rain started to descend from the clouds above. The dusty road that Kurt and his parents had traveled on just this morning was now a river of mud that he sprinted on.

The boy's words played over and over in Kurt's head as he ran, but other thoughts soon found their way in as well. The thoughts all brought more tears to his eyes and more anger to his heart. Why hadn't his parents told him that he looked different? Why hadn't they just left him at home? Why was he a monster?

All this and more propelled Kurt forward through the rain. He didn't know where he was going and frankly he didn't care. For now he just ran to get away from the voices that mocked him in his head.

After a while, Kurt wasn't sure how long, he began to slow down to a hurried walk and then to a slow amble. He was so tired. He tilted his head up to look around, but all he saw was the overflowing road and the sleet like rain that came down in sheets around him. For the first time since he started to run he felt to rain pour onto him and soak him through to the bone. His hair was plastered to his face and his clothes hung on him as gravity pulled them down. He began to shiver as he walked off of the road and into the shelter of the forest.

His mind was thick and hazy as he walked through the tree trunks. The rain dropped down from the leaves above and splattered on his head. The thunder awoke him from his daze. He was alone in the forest miles away from his home with no idea where he was!


	2. Chapter 2

Every rain drop seemed like a dagger made of ice. The temperature had suddenly dropped, leaving the air with a chilling aftertaste. Kurt shivered as he made his way through the woods, hoping to find the road. His heart was still heavy with the events of the day but he wasn't stupid enough to believe that he could live on his own. The anger and fear that had nipped at his heels as he ran was now a dulled throbbing in his heart. Kurt wanted his mother's kind smiles and his father's warm hugs back. He wished to be safe in their arms wrapped in the blankets of ignorance they had coddled him in. But now the world was a cold alien place. Kurt felt alone, was alone. He hunched over onto a ball and curled up beneath a tree as new sobs shook his body. The tears that flung themselves from his eyes were now for his stupidity, for his loss of ignorance, and for his recognition of reality, 'Monster'. The word floated through his mind and climbed into his bones ensuring that it would never be forgotten.

Sudden splashes made Kurt stop crying and squint out into the rain around him. Kurt hadn't even given any thought to what might be in the forest, wild animals, dangerous terrain, or even people? A new fear swelled up inside of him, a fear of humans. If today had given him nothing else it was a new understanding of what he was. Kurt tried to get up but he fell, slipping in the mud, covering himself in the wet cold earth. Without even realizing it he had made a groaning sound as he tried to stand once more. Kurt's head shot up in realization of the sound he had made. Had whatever was out there heard him? Was it coming for him? Would it hurt him? Kurt's mind was reeling, a thousand different fears swept through his mind and down to his legs prompting them to move faster.

"It's okay, it's okay…" he whispered to himself, hoping to calm the shaking of his limbs. He couldn't tell if this uncontrollable shivering was from the cold air that forced his body to creak as it moved or if the heated fear was merely making his body unreliable. Either way he needed to get away from whatever had made those noises.

"It's cold out. You shouldn't be playing in the woods when it's raining so much." A soft voice from behind him stated. Kurt froze. Had he gone mad? He hoped he had. He hoped that the voice was merely his mind playing tricks on him instead of a person, instead of a human, actually being near him.

"Hey can you hear me? I said you had better go back to your home. It's cold out here. You're going to freeze to death if you stay." The voice said. This time Kurt could hear the sound of footsteps behind him. His body froze. Every one of his nerves was suddenly standing on end, waiting, hoping, that the voice and the footsteps had just been an illusion.

"Seriously are you deaf? You shouldn't be out here. The rain is going to freeze you where you're standing and besides you look horrible…" the voice lectured. Kurt was now beyond fear, he had passed into a world of all out horror. The voice had said that he 'looked horrible'! Did the person behind him also find him revolting? Would they too throw rocks and scream for his demise? Kurt wanted to run, wanted to fling himself from this place but his legs were frozen in the chilling mud and his body was so tired. He was drained both emotionally and physically. All at once he broke. His mind fell to pieces as his legs gave way to the harsh rain and he fell to the ground.

"Hey… Are you okay? I mean I know you were out here for a while but I didn't think you were this tired…" the voice said. Kurt could hear the footsteps getting closer. He let his head fall forward and tried to concentrate on the ground, on anything other than what the voice was going to say next.

"Wow…. You're…" The voice said as Kurt heard the footsteps stop in front of him. He braced himself for the next word, for the accusation, for 'monster'.

"Really dirty…" the voice finished. Kurt's head shot up in surprise. Wasn't this person disgusted with him? The being standing before him though made Kurt's heart skipped a beat. She was small, probably a year or so younger than him. Her limbs were skinny, too skinny, and her hair fell in a mess around her shoulders. A ragged, once white, long sleeved dress hung on her tiny frame. But it wasn't those factors that made Kurt gasp; it was her skin, her hair, and most of all her eyes. Even in the dark rain he could easily see her stark white skin. Her hair was an even brighter white that stuck to her face as the water droplets ran down her skin. However, these factors could easily add up to some sort of skin condition. 'But those eyes…' Kurt thought, 'There's no way to explain those eyes'. A milky red swirl of color swam through her eyes covering the entirety of her eyes. She had no pupil that Kurt could see, but a lighter section of the reddish color seemed to stay at the center of her eyes and move as her vision did.

"Really, are you just going to sit there? Come on I'll help you up." The girl said as she moved her bone white hand down to him. Kurt's body moved before his mind could process the situation. His larger three fingered hand grasped her small white one in a tight grip.

"You're… You're not scared of me?" Kurt asked. His eyes looked up to her in a pleading gaze hoping that she would say anything that would absolve him from the word 'monster'.

She cocked her head to the side and lifted an eyebrow, "Scared? Why would I be? You're like me." She stated giving him a smile and pulling him to his feet. "We really need to get out of this rain though; I don't want you getting sick." Her words nestled themselves him Kurt's heart and ignited a hearth that the harsh words from earlier had extinguished.

She led Kurt to a small den under a group of fallen trees. The ground wasn't as wet and the fallen branches kept the wind out.

"So what's your name anyway?" She asked as she plopped down beside a group of mushrooms. The ground where she sat was indented, a sign that she had been using this faulty shelter for some time.

"My name is Kurt… do you live here?" He asked sitting down and folding his legs up so he could fit under the branches. The air was heavy with the scent of rotting wood and wet earth. The smell calmed Kurt down and brought him to a more stable place in his mind.

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, I guess for now, but it's not anything permanent. I mean in a few weeks the trees will really start to rot and then they'll collapse. But, it works for now or at least until those dumb saints stop chasing me." She answered absent mindedly picking a mushroom from the tree above her.

"I don't understand… saints? Oh and you never told me your name or what you meant when you said 'you're like me'." Kurt answered. His senses were awakening him to reality and at that moment reality was full of confusion.

"Oh, sorry, my name is Nym. And as for the saints they're those damn cross and church people who have been trying to catch me. And you are like me, aren't you? We both don't look like normal people…" She trailed off trying to grasp if Kurt understood the information or not.

"I guess we don't look normal. But people are chasing you? Did you do something to them?" Kurt asked trying to get to the bottom of her odd reasoning.

"No! I never did anything to them! All I ever did was go through their town about a month ago. They saw me and called me a demon, just like everywhere else I've been, but these people were worse than the other people I've met. Usually people just avoid me but these people came after me with whips and stones! They actually caught me once, it hurt a lot! See!" She explained turning her back towards Kurt. He could make out several large rusty red stains on the back of her dress. Suddenly Nym pulled her dress up over her back. At first Kurt turned away, trying to be decent. But as he glanced at her he saw the large welts and cuts that adorned her back. He counted about seven altogether. They ranged in size as well as how deep they cut into her skin. Kurt could tell that they were only a few weeks old. Most of them had large puffy scabs but a few of the deeper ones were still open wounds.

"They did that to you?" Kurt asked in disbelief. Nym pulled her dress back down and turned to face him.

"Yeah, I was really scary… but it doesn't matter because I showed them! After they hurt me they put me in a sealed room but I escaped and then I stole all of their money! Hahaha," she giggled reliving the moment of her revenge, "Then I dumped it into the river and it all got washed downstream! But the best part was that they couldn't figure out how I had gotten out of stolen the money from the church. None of the locks were broken but I still got out!" A triumphant smile slid over her face and Kurt's mouth fell agape at her story. Could this little girl really be so strong?

"But…How did you do it? How did you get out of the room or get the money out?" Kurt asked scooting closer to her as if that would somehow reveal the secret.

"Huh? You mean you don't have powers too? I figured that all demons would…" She said bringing her face up into a scrutinizing expression.

"Powers? I don't understand. And why did you call me a demon?" Kurt asked. He really was having a hard time understand her cryptic way of speaking.

"Well you're like me right? We both get hurt by other people," She said motioning to the cuts on his head and arms, "so I figured that you were a demon like me. Besides can't you do things that other people can't?" She finished cocking her head again.

Kurt thought back. He had always been a great acrobat, the tail and feet helped him to climb to the tops of trees in seconds while his dad struggled to even get up the first branch. "Well I guess I am a really good climber and I can jump really high." Kurt stated hoping that these traits were what she meant. And a little piece of him hoped that she would be impressed with his accomplishments.

"Hmmmm, I guess that might be it, but, here let me show you my powers…" Nym said as she lifted her hand up to a mushroom and plucked it from the rotting tree.

"Now just watch the mushroom." She ordered. Kurt scooted closer and kept his eyes on the mushroom as ordered. Suddenly the mushroom began to dissolve into her hand and then it disappeared all together.

"How?" Kurt asked examining the bottom of her hand to see if the mushroom would pop back out.

"Hehe, No silly I can absorb things. See this branch?" She asked as she lifted her hand up to it. Kurt nodded hanging on her ever movement. As she moved her hand into the branch it too disappeared into her skin.

Kurt was in shock. It was true her skin had literally absorbed the branch just as it had the mushroom.

"And now for the grand finale!" Nym said excitedly. She moved her hand over by Kurt and suddenly the branch came out of her hand, a tiny mushroom stuck on the end of the branch.

"See?" Nym said happily scooting closer to Kurt, "I have powers, powers that other people don't, just like a demon!"


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt sat astounded at her powers. Could there really be such a thing as a demon? In the stories Kurt had heard demons were always evil, cruel beings that found joy in others suffering. Yet, Nym was not like that, at least not to Kurt. In fact she had taken him in and shared her story with him. There was no way that she was a demon, at least not an evil one. Besides to him she looked more like an angel.

"So, can you do anything like that?" Nym said sticking the branch into the soft dirt beside her. Kurt could only shake his head slowly. He wanted to say yes, wanted to be like her, wanted to show her that he too was amazing and worthy of her praise.

"Well, I guess that it doesn't really matter anyway. Oh, look, the rain is letting up some." She said pointing out of the den of trees behind Kurt. "I always love the smell of fresh rain. I seems like the world is being cleaned, like if I go outside nothing would hurt me…" she trailed off yawning.

"Are you tired?" Kurt asked scooting closer to her to get a better look at her face. She nodded glumly.

"Well it is pretty much night time." She said leaning back against part of the broken tree and giving into another yawn.

"It is?" Kurt asked whipping his head around and staring out into the forest. It was true that it was dark, but then with the storm clouds it had been dark out for a while.

"What's wrong?" She asked putting a tiny hand on his shoulder. A shiver went up Kurt's spine from her touch.

"It's just that…well…my mom and dad are probably really worried…I kind of ran away…and well…" He trailed off looking at the ground.

"Oh…" the tiny sound echoed through the makeshift den and hit Kurt's heart in a way he didn't know was possible. For in that small whisper a deeper meaning of loneliness was rooted.

Kurt turned back and saw her head turned away from him. His face fell; he hadn't meant to hurt her. He didn't want to see her sad. Just as his blue hand was about to reach over to her shoulder her face snapped back up and a smile was plastered on it.

"Well that's great! You have parents! Yeah, you should probably get home then; they are probably worried about you and stuff. Do you know the way back to the road? Just don't fall in the mud again!" she said all of this in a rush before standing up and walking out of the shelter in a hurry. Was her poorly masked sadness because he had somewhere to go and she didn't? Or was it that she was truly lonely out here, running from 'saints', sleeping under trees, and eating god knows what?

"Nym… I… I mean I didn't mean to…" Kurt stumbled over his apology but before he could finish she turned back towards him and shoved her hand over his mouth. In a flash she was pulling him back under the fallen tree. She pushed him into a corner and pressed herself up against him. Kurt's face was on fire, what in the world was she doing?

"What are yo-" Kurt tried to ask before her hand came flying down to cover his mouth once more. Her face glared back at him and her expression was once of fear. At once Kurt tensed up and pushed himself further back into the den. Something outside of the fallen tree had made her fearful, her, a self-proclaimed demon.

"Could have sworn I saw something…" A gruff male voice said above the tree den. Nym's whole body froze and Kurt could hear her heart beating like a drum.

"Don't worry we'll find that little bitch." Another voice answered. "No one can hide from the eyes of god!" The second voice sounded older and farther away that the first.

Kurt listened as the footsteps got further away from their hiding place. He felt Nym relax a little.

"There you are you damned demon!" the gruff voice yelled. Suddenly a face came flying down into the opening of the tree den followed by large hairy arms reaching inside.

"You found her then?" the older voice asked.

"Yeah, and there's another thing with her!" the big man said trying to reach his bulky arms under the fallen tree with no prevail. Kurt realized that, while it was easy for them, two little children to get in and out of the den, it would have been hard for even a smaller adult to squeeze in between the large rotting trunks.

"Damn! Can't reach them! Get out here you demons!" the man yelled again this time trying to lift the fallen trees out of his way, but their bulk was to immense for even his bulging arms.

"Shut up Clerk! Just smoke them out and let's get on with it. Besides corpses will be easier to keep locked up than live devils." The older voice ordered.

Kurt's heart jumped out of his throat at those words. Were these men really going to kill them?

"Move over!" Nym whispered shoving her hand to the back of the tree den. The sound of sparks was coming from the other side of the fallen trees. Nym jutted her other arm out behind her and pointed it towards the men. Suddenly, dirt and rocks came shooting out of her palm. Kurt's head snapped back to look at her other hand, which was moving in circles around the back of the den. She was actually absorbing the dirt from the back of the den and shooting it out at the men, making another exit and stalling the men's fire.

"Damn you!" the gruff voice called through a mouth of wet earth. Nym swiftly pulled Kurt out of the new exit she had made and ran in to the forest, dragging Kurt behind her.

"After them!" the old voice shouted. Kurt heard thundering footsteps behind him and did not dare to look back.

"Run faster!" Nym ordered making a sharp turn to the right and then swerving back to the left. Kurt gladly obliged. His body was built for speed; soon he was in front of her trying to predict her movements so they could run side by side.

She made a hairpin turn and Kurt heard a loud thud behind them and a curse spew form the gruff man's mouth. He must have fell, Kurt thought a bit of pride in his step. As he glanced behind him Kurt saw the tree line not a hundred feet from them.

"The road!" he shouted, instinctively darting off to the end of the forest.

"No! Don't!" Nym yelled darting after him. But Kurt didn't hear her pleas for him to stop, to come back.

Kurt's body leapt forward, his mind was focused on only one thing, the road and the promise of his home at the end of it. Just as he neared the end of the forest Nym's words finally struck him.

"Kurt! Wait don't!" her voice pleaded with him as she gasped for breath trying to catch up to him.

Kurt glanced back at her, a smile strung on his face from seeing the end of the forest.

"Damn demons!" the thundering man's voice boomed from the shadows behind Nym.

"Run! Nym, he's right behind you!" Kurt yelled his voice laced with concern and fear for her.

Nym caught up to Kurt and stopped at his side trying to catch her breath. The loud footsteps and curses were getting closer. Determined to save Nym Kurt grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward out onto the road.

Suddenly Kurt was filled with a confident feeling, he knew where he was!

"That tree! And those rocks! I know where we are!" Kurt said excitedly glancing down at Nym. However, instead of the relieved expression he had expected from her a fearful one now overtook her face. Nym began to try to pull her hand free of Kurt's.

"Nym? What's wrong?" Kurt asked leaning down towards her scared face.

"There you are!" the large man yelled pushing a small tree out of his way to get out of the forest and onto the clear road.

Kurt didn't have time to think; he just tightened his hand around Nym's wrist and ran down the road that he knew all too well.

"Kurt, please!" Nym begged her small body thrashing around as Kurt pulled her forward unmercifully.

"Get back here!" the man ordered his own breathing coming out in gasps.

'Heh, weakling!' Kurt thought, quickening his pace. He barley felt tired at all. His legs sprang with a swiftness he hadn't known and his body easily pulled Nym's weight along.

"There! That's my house!" Kurt shouted down to Nym, picking up their pace. He darted into a bush that marked the turning point for his home's dirt driveway. The big man behind them swore as the tripped trying to make the same swift turn.

Kurt could now see his house and his body leapt with joy, his parent's cart was at the house! They must be home from the market! Oh, how happy they would be to see him! And Nym too, he couldn't wait for them to see her!

"Stop!" the loud man yelled, still fighting his way through the thorny bush that Kurt and Nym had easily slipped by.

Kurt darted away from his house and into a small run down shed. He pulled Nym through the broken opening in the side of the shed and let go of her arm. He jumped on top of a barrel and looked out the half broken window at the side of the shed.

When Kurt had been little he had used to play inside of the shed, hiding from his father when he didn't want to do chores. The shed was pretty much useless, the front door was nailed shut and Kurt's father had never gotten around to fixing the decrepit thing up. The only entrance was a small hole half in the wall of the shed and half in the ground, just big enough for a small child to slide through.

"Ha! We're safe in here!" Kurt said triumphantly, listening for Nym's response. When she didn't say anything Kurt assumed that she was merely catching her breath. Kurt watched as the big man finally freed himself of the bush and started to walk around sweeping his block like head back and forth trying to find a sign of the two children. The big man saw the house nearby and kept his distance. Kurt assumed it was because of the large rifle that his father always kept on the gun rack right outside of the door.

"He can't find us, what an idiot!" Kurt laughed. Suddenly a loud grinding noise ripped through the air. Kurt spun around only to find that Nym wasn't in the shed. His body raced around the tiny space lifting old tarps and knocking over boxes trying to find her. Then he saw it, the hole that they had used to get in was now filled back up. Kurt raced to the door and tried to pull it open, tried to understand what Nym was thinking. Why would she leave him? Why did she seal him in here? Suddenly Kurt heard the big man shout in surprise, Kurt ran to the window to see what had caused his outburst.

"Nym?" Kurt almost whispered as he saw her standing in plain sight of the big man near the window of the shed. The man had obviously spotted her and was trying to make his way through another tangle of thorns to get to her.

"Why?" Kurt yelled banging his hands against the window. His mind was reeling. It didn't make sense that she would leave him here, not when they were both so close to safety.

Nym turned to look at him. Her eyes set in a heartbreaking gaze and her mouth stitched up in a sad smile.

"You're not like me Kurt. You're not a demon; you have somewhere to be safe. I don't want to hurt you, or your parents. Demon's like me are better left in their own hell." With that Nym turned on her foot and ran into the forest. The big man had freed himself and was in hot pursuit of her. All the while Kurt banged his fists on the shed calling out to Nym. Hoping that in some way, in anyway, this wasn't happening.

…

Kurt's parents found him in the shed soon after and his father ripped open the door. They had been so worried all day for their son. The blood drops around the cart had forced them to imagine the worst. Yet, now, here was their son yelling from the inside of the worn shed in their yard.

When they had first heard his voice his father had come running, slinging the rifle over his shoulder. He had seen a large man running into the forest and had fired a warning shot in his direction. Then his father followed the wailing to the shed where he saw Kurt crying through the window.

The next few days were heartbreaking for Kurt's parents. Kurt wouldn't eat and hardly slept. After they had gotten him out of the shed Kurt's father had had to knock him out because Kurt kept screaming and trying to dart into the forest.

Over the next few months Kurt began to open up to his parents about what had happened to him. He made no mention of the little girl with red eyes, only that he had found out that he was not like other people. His parents had apologized profusely to him claiming that they just didn't want o hurt him. Kurt held no ill will towards his parents and instead cherished them more than he had before. But, Kurt was changed. Whenever he went outside he made sure to wear a large coat or cloak to hide his image from the rest of the world.

It wasn't until his fifteenth year that he learned about his ability to teleport. The first time he did it he had been thinking of her, of the branch, of the day she left. Not a year later an invitation had come in the mail offering Kurt the chance to study oversees at Xavier's Institute for the Gifted.

…

It hadn't been a though transition for Kurt into his new school. He had been learning English from his mother for the past few years and besides the school was amazing.

He no longer had to wear a frumpy cloak around outside; instead the Professor had given him an image inducer which allowed him to spend his days at Bayville High School along with the rest of the students at Xavier's Institute. But, the most important discovery had come from a single word, the word that labeled him for what he, and all of the other students truly were, 'mutants'. 


	4. Chapter 4

"Kurt wake up! Do you want to be late for training?" Scott yelled outside of Kurt's door.

"Ugh! Coming Scott…" Kurt groaned lifting his sleep heavy head up to see the clock on his nightstand, 4:23AM. "Dammit…" he sighed before lifting his acrobatic body out of bed and over to the closet in his room. All in all the room at the institute was about the size of his family's old farm house. It was a luxurious living style that he was still getting used to it.

"Kurt!" a female voice called outside of his door in a mocking fashion. The voice had an edge to it with a smooth twang at the end. "Kurt come on, if you don't beat Evan there I'll have license to make fun of you instead of him." Rouge called. Kurt sighed and slipped into his uniform before he ran a hand through is bed head. One last yawn and he was gone in a puff of blue smoke.

The underground network of rooms at the institute really was something otherworldly. Metal hallways connecting to vast rooms filled with training scenarios and the best technology that money had to offer, it really was another world compared to his family's farm made of wood and brick. Of course Kurt had been sending most of the earnings he had garnered while at the institute, through odd jobs and such, back to his mother and father who were now able to buy another field to farm. Overall he was happy, a bit overwhelmed, but happy.

The team assembled on the cold floor promptly at 4:30 AM. Scott was taking attendance as Logan, the head physical instructor, went over the last computer alignments for the training simulation. As usual Kitty and Even were the last to arrive. Kitty was late because of her hair, which admittedly did always look soft and dream-like, and Evan was late because of his sleeping habits, or as he liked to say his 'separation anxiety' from his pillow.

"Okay we are going to do warm-up runs and then go over simulation B-4." Scott announced. Groans were heard from Kurt, Rouge, Evan, and Kitty. They had been doing that simulation for the past week but hadn't been able to get it right. They were all sick of the idea of having to do it again, but only Scott and Jean wouldn't voice their complaints.

"Why? We haven't been able to do it yet! Can't we try something else?" Evan complained.

"No! You need to learn to act as a team! Kitty you need to get your head out of the clouds, Rouge you need to let them help you, Kurt you need to learn to move with the group, and Evan you just need to actually try for once!" Logan yelled clicking the computer in place and signaling Scott to start the warm-ups.

It was true Kurt was having problems keeping a team mind set. It seemed like they always left him behind in one way or another. Rouge was the only one who was willing to actually take the time to help him if he fell behind and even then he could tell it was a forced effort on her part. But, he didn't resent them; in fact he envied them more than anything.

"Okay ready? And go!" Scott yelled. The team moved forward. Kurt tried to remain on Evan's flank, his position, but Evan moved around too suddenly and erratically for Kurt to predict his movements. Whenever Kurt would teleport to where they were headed he would end up standing at a check point without Evan.

This morning was no different. By 6:30AM everyone was tired, sore, and frustrated with the simulation still unconquered.

"Why didn't you block that net Kurt?" Kitty asked angrily as they headed back to their rooms. She had gotten hit with a net while Kurt had been teleporting Rouge out of the way of a laser. She blamed him only because Evan wasn't there to nag at, he had been given extra laps for slacking off. Kurt mumbled 'I'm sorry' all the way back to the halls. When Kitty had turned a corner to go back to her and Rouge's room Rouge stayed behind and patted Kurt's shoulder with her gloved hand.

"Don't let it get to you. You did good, okay?" She asked bending closer to him to try and see if he was really okay. Kurt smiled back.

"Come on! Like that little cat could get me down! She's just antsy because Lance didn't call her back. If you ask me she needs a hobby other than boys." Kurt joked shrugging off the harsh atmosphere. If there was one thing he was good at it was changing the topic. He could talk his way out of almost any awkward moment with a few light humorous words and a smile.

"Okay, well then see you at breakfast." Rouge said turning to go to her room. Kurt sighed as he made his way back to his room for a shower. Rouge was a good person. She was harsh to most but she had opened up to him mainly because of their shared history with Mystic. They had both been her children at one point and then abandoned. In an awkward way, that made Kurt's head hurt to try and rationalize, they were siblings.

Kurt walked back to his room and slipped out of his uniform and into the bathroom at the far side of his room. His steps were slow as we walked past the mirror above the sink. He stood sideways, the mirror on his left, not wanting to look. Every day it was the same. But maybe today? Maybe, just maybe, he would look and see something normal. 'The definition of insanity is doing the same action over and over and expecting a different outcome.' His mind quoted. Kurt smiled at this thought of insanity. Wouldn't it be great if he had just dreamed being a mutant? Wouldn't it be wonderful to wake up in a house with five fingers and five toes? Wouldn't it be grand to not be himself?

Kurt sighed as he turned his head to face the mirror, same old face, same old skin, and the same old tail. 'Guess I'm not far enough off the deep end yet…' Kurt thought jokingly before turning on the shower.

"Kurt! We're leaving in ten!" Scott's voice echoed from the hall. Kurt was already dried off, a feat that took him longer than most due to his fur. He had just pulled his shirt over his head before dashing to the door. Just as he was about to turn the knob his body frozen, his left wrist felt too light. Kurt glanced down and saw blue, not right. He dashed over to his bedside table and picked up the image inducer slapping it on his wrist before fiddling with the buttons on the side. A small whirring noise and it was set, his tail, gone, his skin, furless and white, his eyes, two dark brown lightless orbs.

"Kurt! I, like, want to get to school this century!" Kitty yelled. Kurt could almost see the pout on her face. BAMF!

"Kurt! Don't scare me like that!" Kitty gasped, his teleporting smoke driving her back.

"Hahaha! That's why you're never supposed to rush an elf; you never know when they'll get you back!" Kurt joked making a scary face before he teleported to the kitchen.

"Kurt, there you are. But, I guess I can't get angry with you since Kitty and Evan aren't even here yet." Scott said washing his plate in the sink. Rogue was munching on some toast while Jean poured herself another glass of orange juice.

"Any of those muffins Storm made still left?" Kurt asked zooming in on the bread cabinet.

"Yeah, there should be…" Scott answered. Kurt lit up at the promise of a good breakfast. He was just about to reach up to the cabinet when Evan swooped in front of him.

"Hey!" Kurt groaned, trying to get past Evan.

"Oh! Sorry Bro." Evan said turning around to speak to Kurt. Kurt saw muffin bits hanging from Evan's mouth. Kurt pushed past him and peeked into the cabinet, nothing left.

"Evan! Kurt was going to eat that!" Jean scolded Evan, though there was little she could do since half of it was already down his throat.

"Opps! Sorry man!" Evan said before following Scott out to the car.

"It's okay." Kurt said smiling as he grabbed an apple. "Hey, hey Rogue! Know what's worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding half a worm in your apple!" Kurt joked slapping his knee in fake amusement at his own joke.

"Eww! That's gross Kurt! God, why are all guys so immature!" Rogue ranted before getting up and exiting the kitchen.

The smile hung from Kurt's face. It had become a mold, something he could easily slip in and out of to avoid that awkward pause of embarrassment. It always worked.

"Kurt! Where is everyone?" Kitty asked, out of breath from running.

"Where were you?" Kurt asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Ahh! My hair just wouldn't, you know, like, stay down! There was this one hair that just kept popping back up! So I had to-" Kitty gasped.

"Well, as interesting as your hair maintenance is, I don't want to be late. I think Scott might seriously leave us behind one of these times." Kurt interrupted.

"So they're in the garage!" Kitty said before spinning on her platform sandals and taking off towards the garage. Kurt sighed again shaking his head with a smile on his face before teleporting to the garage.

…

"Hey Professor! Professor!" Logan shouted pounding on the large double doors in the institute's basement. It was getting late and had already been an hour since Logan had been left to wait outside with nothing more than a promise of 'this won't take long'.

"Seriously I'm leaving now…" Logan whispered harshly, though he knew he wouldn't. Logan owed too much to the Professor, but that didn't mean that he didn't get angry with the Professor's mysterious ways at times.

"Logan." The Professor's voice floated out from behind the doors. Suddenly the large doors slid apart, revealing Professor Xavier. Logan looked away, ashamed at his earlier outburst.

"Professor you're not looking to good…" Logan said leaning closer to the Professor. It was true his face was pale and his brow had the gleam of sweat. Though Logan was not a scientist, by any stretch of the word, he knew that normally cerebro didn't take much out of Xavier.

"Logan, we need to ready the team, so prep the jet." With that the Professor sent Logan away.

"I didn't think she would do this…" Xavier said letting his overworked head fall into his hand.

…

"_Everyone please assemble and come to the X-jet"_ the Professor's voice boomed into each of the student's heads.

Kurt rolled off of his bed where he had been reading a book for class, _The Lord of the Flies_, 'seriously' he thought, 'that guy must have been on a drug trip when he wrote this…' Kurt quickly changed into his uniform and teleported down to the basement level where everyone else was assembling.

"What do you think we're doing?" Kitty asked as she and Evan walked in.

"Kicking-butt and taking names, of course!" Evan yelled the smile of a Christmas day child planted on his face.

"No! I mean really!" Kitty said, her eyes getting frustrated at Evan's lack of answers. Kurt was well beyond trying to figure out what the Professor had planned. Even when the Professor explained it to them the situations would always change. No use trying to grab an invisible string.

"Everyone! Listen up! We are going to Michigan tonight! There is a mutant that we need to find! The Brotherhood is also there, so, be careful and above all else work as a team!" Logan shouted signaling them to board the jet.

"How did Lance and them get to Michigan so fast?" Kitty asked, her face heating up when she said Lance's name.

"Well, they weren't in school today…" Kurt offered.

"Well, duh! But, like, how did they know to go there?" Kitty retorted, this time aiming the question for the Professor.

"This is a mutant that Magneto and I have been watching for some time. He finally decided to make his move tonight and we need to stop him from getting to her before convinces her that she should go with him." Xavier answered.

"Enough questions! You have your orders now let's move!" Logan shouted. Kurt could tell he was eager to have a second round with Magneto.

Everyone climbed in and buckled up as Logan took the controls.

"This mutant must be something big for the Professor to come with us…" Kurt heard Jean whisper to Scott as the jet took off. Kurt had always enjoyed riding in the jet, the smooth sounds of the air whipping past them coupled with the slight vibrations from the roaring engine served to rock him into a half sleeping state. He felt comfortable like this.

"We're landing in ten minutes so everyone get ready!" Logan yelled over the speaker system.

"Now, you need to exercise caution when approaching this mutant." The Professor explained, "She is very unstable and most likely will not trust us right away-"

"If at all…" Logan's voice whispered over the intercom followed by a, "Damn! Sorry Professor." Before the speakers clicked off.

Kitty and Evan giggled at Logan's mistake while Jean and Scott seemed to get nervous. Rogue had sat next to Kurt and while she looked anxious, there was no other hint of emotion in her face.

Kurt envied her ability to keep up a poker face. He was sure that the fear and unease of this new mutant showed on his.

The jet landed in a large park and the team got off the jet, Logan sniffed and snorted out the cold air in a huffed breath. Kurt tried to keep himself warm by moving his body around, shifting his stance as they waited for orders.

"Why can't we have jackets?" Kitty moaned out, shivering.

"Because, within ten minutes of running you would be overheated. Just let your body get used to the air, you will be moving soon." The Professor explained as he wheeled out of the jet.

"You're coming too Professor?" Scott asked taking a protective stance towards Xavier.

"I have to. Don't worry about me just focus on the team; it will be a difficult task to bring her down." The Professor said putting his fingers to his temples to get a reading on the beings around.

"What did he mean 'bring down?'" Rogue asked Kurt in a whisper as the Professor concentrated. Kurt too had been wondering about the Professor's word choice. Usually he fought for peace and non-violence whenever he could, yet he had clearly said to 'bring her down' a term usually coupled with acts of violence.

"I'm not sure…" Kurt answered his brow furrowing. Was the mutant dangerous enough to need to be sedated? Kurt thought of Juggernaut in his watery tube. Juggernaut had been deemed too dangerous to be kept conscious for more than a few seconds; would this mutant be like that?

"Okay, Scott, take Kurt and Evan with you and swing to the left. Jean you take Kitty and Rogue with you and go to the right. We are going about fifty meters to the north into a relatively residential area. Keep hidden and try to stay away from the people as best you can. Logan and I will follow your groups and when you have cornered her I will sedate her. Her name is Natalie and she can sift object through her body, do not let her touch you. We are unsure of whether or not she can take in living things and I don't want any of you to test that theory tonight." The Professor explained, once more rubbing his temples.

"How will the Prof sedate it? Does he have a gun or something?" Evan asked Scott as they began to walk up a small poorly lit road.

"No, dummy, the Professor can use his mind to send her into an unconscious state." Scott explained, putting emphasis on the 'her', obviously bothered by Evan's 'it'.

The road was littered with small piles of snow and fields of frost. Kurt thought it must be at least 2am by now; hopefully most of the people in the area would be asleep.

The air was indeed cold, but just as the Professor had said a few minutes of them jogging down the street and he was sweating.

"Whoa! Look at that!" Evan shouted stopping in his tracks at a poorly lit street corner. Kurt could see the splintered large wooden fence not ten feet from them.

"Shut up Evan!" Scott scolded him, taking an aggressive step towards Evan, "did you forget the Professor told us to-" Scott's rant was cut short by what he and Kurt saw.

"See? Weird huh?" Evan asked as Kurt and Scott took tentative steps towards the odd mass that was sitting in the hole of the fence. Upon closer inspection Kurt saw that the malformed lump was a mixture of metal, sticks, and other unidentifiable objects. All in all it looked like a modern art piece formed with intense heat and a twisted artist's mind.

"Do you think it did this?" Evan asked looking from Scoot to Kurt.

"I-I don't know but from what the Professor told us it does seem like she would be capable…" Scott answered returning to his soft jog up the street. Kurt and Evan fell in line behind him. Unease swept through Kurt's mind. This mutant was strong, and obviously out of control.

"_Head West! We found the Brotherhood!"_ the Professor's orders slammed through their heads. Usually the Professor was gentler with his telepathic orders, but this sent a trill of pain up Kurt's spine and propelled him to his left, following Scott, down a narrow dirt road that lead to a large ancient barn surrounded by a dark field.

"Jean?" Scott yelled. Kurt could see her form floating above the barn as she threw an abandoned tractor with her telepathy at a sliver blur whizzing around below her.

"Scott! Help! The Brotherhood is already here! They chased the girl out to the house in the field!" Jean yelled finally hitting her target with a rundown muffler.

Kurt heard Pietro's muffled grunt as he struggled under the weight of the old piece of metal.

"Hah! Not so quick now are you!" Evan yelled as they ran past Pietro, who in turn shouted obstinacies back.

"Quiet Evan!" Scott yelled picking up their pace as they raced to the large broken house in the field. Jean flew above them as loud booms and cracks reached their ears.

Kurt's breath flew behind him as he sprang forward. He felt the soil rock beneath him and heard Evan hit the ground from the unexpected shifting of the earth. 'Damn, why can't Lance learn to control himself?' Kurt thought as he picked up his pace springing in from of Scott. There was a town not half a mile away, they would eventually feel the tremors and come to investigate, just what they didn't need.

"Kurt, go around back!" Scott yelled motioning for Evan and Jean to follow him to the front of the house.

The long grass tickled Kurt's racing figure. It nearly engulfed him, leaving only his head to poke out over the dried meadow. As he ran around the house he realized how massive the thing was. Though it was obviously decaying, what with half of the roof already caved in, it still held an old world charm in its three stories of ancient white washed wood.

"_She's in the house!"_ the Professor's words were frantic and left an aching in Kurt's head. It took a lot to shake up the Professor and it scared Kurt to think that a mutant of the Professor's caliber was fearful of what Kurt was supposed to head off.

"Stop!" Jean's hysterical voice called as a large boom was heard at the other end of the house. Kurt crouched down as debris flew around him. A large beam landed not three feet from him with a sickening thud. He jumped up to see the house trembling. It looked so strange. The whole thing was literally shivering back and forth, as though it was trying to warm itself from the cold air. The unnatural shuddering only lasted a few seconds though before the rest of the roof collapsed sending a loud cracking sound through the cold night air. 'Someone had to have heard that…' Kurt thought his head turning from the house to the small town they had run past in the distance. He longed to run into the fight he could hear from his weeded hiding spot. But, he had to stay hidden here in case the mutant escaped the house and he needed to chase her.

"Get back here you stupid bitch!" Lance bellowed from the back door of the crumbling house. Kurt perked up and watched as the grass parted to his left. And he was off. His speed was unmatched, except by Pietro, and he felt the adrenaline rush coarse through his body as he spurred himself forward.

"Natalie! Please stop!" Kitty yelled about twenty feet behind Kurt. The rest of the team was tailing him as well. Kurt followed the dark parting of the tall grass in front of him. Suddenly Kurt heard a scuffled stop ahead of him.

"Hey! Stop running already!" Logan shouted. His gruff voice came from the same place of the abrupt stop. Had Logan caught her?

Kurt burst from the grass to find a barren section of the meadow. It was here that Logan was slowly approaching a figure cloaked in an oversized coat. Kurt stood stark still, not wanting to scare her away if Logan really had calmed her in some way.

"Whoa!" Kitty grunted as she ran into Kurt's back, sending them both sprawling forward into the hard dirt. Kurt spat out the rocky chunks of earth that had forced their way into his mouth as Kitty rolled off of him.

"What the he-" Logan began. Kurt saw him turn his head to face the racket Kurt and Kitty had just made when Logan was suddenly thrown into the air. Kurt watched him fall to the ground, barely able to catch himself as he landed.

"Natalie! Please you don't have to do this, we won't hurt you…" Jean said stepping into view from the other side of the clearing. Kurt's eyes swept back to where Logan had been standing not seconds before. In his place there was a large malformed boulder. His gaze swept to the figure standing behind the boulder, he could barely make out a long mass of flowing hair in the darkness. His face fell to the ground and then he saw them, two little bare feet shifting behind the boulder. 'It's freezing out but she doesn't have shoes?' He asked himself shaking his head to clear his wandering thoughts.

"It's okay Natalie… We really won't hurt you…" Jean's calm voice floated into the cold air. She was slowly stepping closer and closer to the figure hidden in the shadows of the moon.

It only took a second for everything to fall, literally fall. A surge went through the earth and shook the team's balance sending them sprawling to the ground.

"Move it kiddies!" Lance yelled running over the still shaking ground past Kurt and towards the girl.

It was a split second decision, one that he really should have thought over, really should have remembered the Professor's warning, 'Don't let her touch you.' But instinct took over and Kurt teleported next to the dark figure and wrapped an arm around her before teleporting again.

The loud Bamf of his return teleport sounded from the nearby woods. Kurt still had his hand on her arm. She was surprisingly small, her head barley reaching his shoulders. He released her suddenly realizing that he was touching her, the previous warning jumping through his head. The second he let go of her she was off, running into the woods. Kurt swore softly before turning to run after her.

He wouldn't have seen it. He wouldn't have even noticed if the moon hadn't escaped from its cloudy prison just then, he wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't whipped her hair back in that instant. But, all of those things did happen. And in a second he saw the long pearly white stands of her hair glow in the moonlight, bringing a painful memory to the surface of his mind.

"Natalie!" Jean shouted as she and Scott ran into the woods whipping past Kurt's frozen figure. He was in a state of shock. Could it be?

"Kurt, man, come on! Why did you let her go?" Evan shouted as he ran past Kurt. Kurt shook his head, trying to put the scarred memories to rest. He began running and teleporting through the forest after her.

There were tons of mutants with white hair right? Heck, Strom for one. 'There is no way, just no freaking way…' He chided himself. But his pace quickened as he teleported around a tree. He was nearing the rest of the team. They had her cornered near a large river that roared with gushing water and deep rapids.

"Natalie, just calm down, we can talk this out…" Jean said trying again with a soft approach. Kurt stopped short of the river looking to his right at the girl. The moon was still shining and he could easily see her long white hair flowing in the chilled breeze. Her face was obscured by her wild hair, though, leaving Kurt to sift his weight to try and get a glimpse. His every fiber wanted it to be true. He wanted it to be her, to be his Nym.

"See, we won't hurt you Natalie…" Jean said talking another step closer. They had the girl cornered against the rushing river, its rapids shouting of watery graves for those that would try to cross it.

The movement was slick, fluid. The girl's left hand went to a nearby fallen tree that dangled over the river while her right hand shot out towards Jean. It resembled a hose. The kind that Storm used to water her gardens behind the institute. The wood from the tree in her one hand flowed out of her other one, straight at Jean. The stream of distorted bark hit Jean like a battering ram, sending her flying back to the ground. In a flash the girl had turned on her foot and leapt onto the dead tree, backing herself out to its thin limbs that dangled over the river.

"No! Natalie come down!" Kitty pleaded running towards the girl. The girl didn't even perk up at her name; instead she took another step back, the thin tree branch creaking under her. The wind shifted ever so slightly bringing the girl's hair around to blow behind her. That was when Kurt saw them, two milky red eyes, set in a sad downward stare.

"Nym!" Kurt screamed out, his lungs going empty from the force of his voice. The girl's head shot up instantly, she looked right at him, her eyes wide with shock. Abruptly, the tree gave one last groan before the branch broke all together.

Time didn't stop, it moved, but barely. Kurt watched as seconds became hours. The branch broke and her face crumbled as her body began to fall. She was looking right at him, her brow knit together not in fear but an ancient regret that Kurt had tried to push out of his mind.

He didn't even really feel himself teleport, didn't feel his mind tell his body to do it. Suddenly he was next to her, falling with her towards the river. His arms wrapped around her and he felt his feet hit the icy water before he teleported again, sending them both falling onto the springy grass near the edge of the river.

"Kurt? Are you okay?" Evan gasped, hovering over him. Kurt felt her body in his arms, so small, so small and still. Still? It was true she hadn't moved since they had hit the ground. Kurt quickly rolled her head towards him, her limp neck sending him into panic.

"Get away from her! Remember what the Professor said?" Kitty yelled grabbing Kurt's arm and pulling him from her. Kurt struggled against Kitty finally pushing her away before he leapt back to Nym's side. He put his hands on her face feeling her cold sweaty skin.

"Is she…?" Evan asked looking over Kurt's shoulder.

"No! No! Sh-she can't!" Kurt cried out putting his head down to her mouth, he could feel it. He could feel the air slowly slipping in and out of her lips, she was alive.

"She's okay, just unconscious I think…" Kurt explained taking his head away from her mouth to inspect the rest of her. His hands immediately flew to her head, checking her for any serious injuries. As his fingers drifted to the back of her head he felt a warm sticky liquid coat his hand. She was bleeding.

"Help! Help her!" Kurt shouted at his team, cradling her in his arms. Logan jogged from the edge of the forest with Rogue following him, limping slightly from his earlier encounter with the girl.

"Move it elf." Logan grunted as he bent down over the girl and shoved his hand over her wound. Kurt watched in horror as Logan roughly turned her this way and that.

"Stop it! You'll hurt her!" Kurt shouted putting himself between her and Logan to stop Logan's inspection.

"Relax! She's fine the cut on her head ain't even that deep." Logan said moving away from her, shaking his hands of her blood. Kurt grabbed her again and pulled her close to him.

"Come on! We need to get her back to the Professor before she comes to." Logan ordered, rubbing his hurt side before stalking back through the forest.

"Kurt? Do…do you know her?" Kitty asked taking a step away from him.

"Enough! We need to get back." Scott said harshly, one of Jean's arms slung over his shoulders to help her hobble back through the forest. Evan followed them hurriedly. Kitty moved away from him slowly, distrust in her eyes. Kurt couldn't believe how they were treating her, just because she had hurt them in her misplaced fear. Heck, tons of other mutants had attacked them before! Many of them now lived at the institute!

"Rogue can you help me? I don't want to move her head too much." Kurt asked pulling one of Nym's limp arms over his own shoulder, trying to keep her head still. Rogue didn't move at first, she just stood there, her arms wrapped around herself, a guarded expression on her face.

"What's wrong with you! She's hurt! Are you going to help me or not?" Kurt yelled, frustration breaking his patience. Rogue jumped back from his words but stepped closer to him, carefully taking her other arm and holding it away from herself. Kurt huffed angrily before he snatched Nym's arm out of Rogue's light grip and cradled Nym in his arms. He hadn't wanted to carry her this way, her neck lolled around too much for his comfort. He began his angry walk back through the forest, Rogue followed behind him, not saying a word. Kurt glanced over his shoulder to look at Rogue. Her expression shocked him. Her eyes were facing downwards and her mouth was set in a pouting grimace. It was an expression he knew all too well that re-opened old wounds; it was a look of disgust.


	5. Chapter 5

The cold night air wrapped itself around Kurt as he placed Nym's unconscious body on a fold out gurney from the jet. The rest of the team was silent and gave a wide birth to her form. Kurt was the only one who folded her limbs up and strapped her into the make-shift bed. He didn't dare look up to see their faces. He was afraid, but not for himself, of himself. Kurt was afraid that he would explode. That he would yell and scream at his teammates if he even dared to look them in the eye. Because he knew what he would find nestled in their downcast eyes. He knew what would be taking root in their minds, the burning thought of 'not like us'. The age old fire starter of 'different from me'. The word that had hurt him so much before, 'monster'.

"Kurt! Don't touch her. Until she is properly sedated I don't want any of you going near her." The Professor ordered. All of the X-men obliged. They filed into the jet leaving her body strapped to the gurney out in the cold night air.

"Professor! She won't hurt us! I know her! We met when we were both younger and trust me she wouldn't hurt-" Kurt tried to explain, a pleading smile coming over his features.

"Quiet Kurt! I…I know of your shared past…now." The Professor said. He let his head fall into his hand. Suddenly Xavier grimaced in pain and his hand flew to his left side.

"Professor!" Logan shouted running from the Jet's engines over to him.

"Sh…she hurt you?" Kurt asked. He was in disbelief. Sure, she had gotten Logan and Jean, but that was different. Already Logan was healed and Jean was patched up, but The Professor? That was something out of Kurt's realm of understanding. Couldn't The Professor merely have stopped her telepathically from hurting him? Yet here he sat, with a wound that Logan was re-wrapping.

"Bingo elf. Your little friend over there wasted us. We have to take every precaution we can." With that Logan went back over to close up the engines and walked into the jet.

"Bu-but she wouldn't…She was just scared…And what about you Professor? Couldn't you have stopped her!" Kurt said, his mind going in circles. He wanted to protect her but she had done it. She had hurt their savior; Nym had injured the most powerful mutant at the institute.

"I can't control her." The Professor sighed, rubbing his head with his index finger and thumb, "Normally I am able to focus in on a person because of the particular make up of each of their minds. No two minds are the same and that allows me to be able to talk with each of you. But…with her…because she can absorb so many particles, so many elements I can't get a direct reading on her mind. One second it is giving me readings of one kind then the next it changes. I can't keep up. Even right now while she just lies there sleeping her body is unconsciously shifting the elements in her body, not allowing me to get even a fraction of a second to speak with her mind before it has already shifted to something else. I cannot control her. I doubt if anyone can…" The Professor explained. He let out a sigh and turned to face Logan. Kurt hadn't even noticed Logan's arrival.

"Ready?" Logan asked as he opened a small plastic case.

"Ready." The Professor answered in a sad tone. With that Logan held up a vile of liquid and a syringe. He inserted the needle's tip into the soft opening of the vile and drew the pump back. The liquid glistened in the moonlight inside of the syringe.

"What?" Kurt asked, not wanting to comprehend what The Professor and Logan were doing. Logan tested the needle and some of its contents spilled over from the pressure. Logan was steady as he aimed the needle at Nym's arm.

"No!" Kurt shouted. He didn't understand. Why were they drugging her and with so much? The syringe was almost all the way full, there was no way she could handle that high of a dose.

"Kurt please!" The Professor said, trying to reach out to him. Kurt pulled away and put himself in between Logan and Nym.

"Step back kid!" Logan shouted, his voice going rough.

"No! You'll kill her with that much! You'll kill her!" Kurt shouted. He didn't care who heard, anything to stop this. Anything to make this not be happening!

_Kurt!_ The voice was an order. It crumpled his body and sent his mind into a frenzy. _I'm Sorry Kurt… _The Professor's voice apologized; it left a bitter aftertaste of regret and pain. At once the pain stopped and Kurt opened his eyes to see Logan coming down into Nym's arm with the needle.

"I said no!" Kurt screamed shoving his hands up and pushing Logan back.

"What the hell? Prof! If you want me to do the kid in then let me! Don't keep jerking me around like this! Either he gets out of the way or I drop this damned thing get on the jet and fly the hell home!" Logan yelled waving the syringe around. 'Logan doesn't want to kill her?' Kurt asked himself.

"I-I'm sorry Logan. This is just…I've never had to deal with something like this before…I'm sorry." The Professor said. Slowly Xavier wheeled himself over to the entrance of the jet and boarded it. Logan let out a gruff snort before he threw the syringe back into the plastic case. It shattered on impact. Logan stepped on the lid to close it before her grabbed it roughly and threw it inside of the jet before getting in himself.

"What?" Kurt asked the frigid air. There was no response. Nothing but the cold breath of the night and the shivers of the events that had just transpired.

…

He didn't remember how he had mustered the strength or composure to wheel Nym into the jet or how he had even managed to make it to his seat. He didn't remember these things, didn't know how he had done them. But, he did remember what The Professor had tried to do. And he remembered what he had done to stop it.

The jet was silent as it flew back to the Institute. The rumble from the engines no longer rocked Kurt into a trance. Instead it served to point out the suffocating blanket of silence that wrapped itself around the team.

The jet landed as the sun began to rise. It was a Saturday so the team was allowed to go right back to their rooms for some much needed rest. The rest of the team had eagerly fled the jet and were already out of sight. Logan and the Professor had gotten off without as much as a backwards glance at either Kurt of Nym. Kurt was the last one on the jet. He stood next to Nym's body and wheeled the gurney out onto the landing deck and over the elevator. Kurt had decided that Nym's health came first. He would take her to see Dr. McCoy. Provided that The Professor would let him.

The elevator let out a ding as it reached Dr. McCoy's lab floor. Kurt usually avoided the place, too many equations and technological terms that made his mind spin.

"Ah, Kurt! Welcome, The Professor said you might be coming here." Dr. McCoy said a pleasant smile on his blue furry face. Dr. McCoy jumped up onto a lab table and began to clear it off with his hands and feet. Kurt watched in awe at how fast the doctor worked. Sure, he had seen Dr. McCoy fight before but he hadn't spent enough time around him to know that his opposable feet came in handy around the house.

"Now, let's see the patient." Dr. McCoy said happily helping Kurt to wheel the gurney over to the now clear table. 'Either The Professor didn't tell Dr. McCoy about what happened or he's a great actor…' Kurt thought. The tense atmosphere that Kurt had been expecting disappeared in an instant, replaced with Dr. McCoy's pleasant humming and busy work.

Suddenly Kurt saw the glimmer of a metal object in Dr. McCoy's hands. He jumped between the doctor and Nym, shielding her with himself. He wasn't about to have come all this way just to let Nym be done in by a secret assassin.

"Hmm?" Dr. McCoy mumbled, raising an eyebrow to Kurt's odd stance. Then a smile crept over the doctor's face. "Do you think I'll hurt her?" Dr. McCoy asked.

Kurt didn't say a word, he wanted to trust the doctor, he was the last ally Kurt had left, but we didn't budge either.

"Hahaha! Truly you are a noble man Kurt!" Dr. McCoy laughed, slapping Kurt in the shoulder.

Kurt was thrown off, in more ways than one. Physically, that one light slap had Kurt reeling and trying to stay on his feet. Mentally, he was confused out of his mind!

"Dr. McCoy I don't-" Kurt began, still trying to see what the metal object the doctor held was.

"Call me Hank." The doctor said turning his back to Kurt and setting out tools on a sterile pad.

"Hank what are you doing?" Kurt mumbled in his breath. His mind had had enough. It was one twist after another today and he was out, throwing in the towel. He couldn't argue with this odd man before him. 'Hell! Let him kill her if he wants!' Kurt thought, exasperated. 'No…no don't let him kill her…'

Kurt turned around and for the first time he really look at Nym. She had changed, but he could still see the little girl he had once met in her features. Her hair was longer now and fell around her in a tangled mess. Her skin was dirty and her clothes were ripped. 'Guess her fashion sense hasn't changed…' Kurt laughed to himself remembering her tattered dress and home made out of fallen trees and packed mud from years before. But there was a difference in her face. It was slight. Something that couldn't really be seen, yet, something Kurt could have never overlooked. As she lay there, her face was fixed in a small expression of pain. She was smiling in all of his memories. Even on the day she had left him she had that sad smile on her face, but now she lay before him with nothing but worry and fear etched into her face. What had made this change? What had hardened his angel to make her so sad?

"Well then, help me move her onto the table." Dr. McCoy said. Kurt turned to see him wearing gloves and a mask over his face.

"What are you?" Kurt asked taking a step away from Hank.

"Well, do you want her to have a hole in her head or not?" Dr. McCoy asked in a jokingly exasperated tone. Kurt glanced in the doctor's hand and found not a syringe glinting in the light but a needle along with medical thread and some cleansing products.

"You really are a noble man Kurt. But even heroes need their rest. Help me move her over onto the table and I'll patch her up. Then you can both get some well deserved sleep." Dr. McCoy explained.

Kurt's eyelids suddenly made themselves known. Sleep sounded so very good at that moment. He slowly helped Dr. McCoy move Nym onto the table.

"You won't hurt her?" Kurt asked, desperation seeping into his voice. Kurt so badly wanted Dr. McCoy to be his ally.

"I promise." Dr. McCoy said, placing his hand over his own heart.

"I won't leave her…" Kurt said, looking down. He didn't want to seem ungrateful or untrusting of the doctor but he couldn't leave her alone, not after what had happened.

"I figured as much," Dr. McCoy said smiling as he pointed to the corner of the room. "You can both sleep in here for now." Set up in the corner was a cot with a pillow and blanket already set out.

"I'll wheel the gurney over there once I sew her up, okay?" Dr. McCoy asked. Kurt felt a wave of relief crash over him. The weight had not been lifted but some of the burden shared.

"Thank you Hank, thank you so much." Kurt said as he dragged his worn out body over to the cot. Kurt plopped down and felt his muscles go limp. His body tried so hard to drown him in the realm of sleep. But, Kurt's mind refused to give in until Nym was safe by his side. Kurt watched through blurred vision as Dr. McCoy tended to Nym's wound and cleaned up the other cuts she had gotten on her arms and legs. At last Kurt watched as Dr. McCoy wheeled Nym over to the corner.

"See? Good as new. Now you need sleep just as much as she does." Dr. McCoy said. Kurt nodded and lay down in the cot. He shifted himself so that he could see Nym's sleeping form next to his. Tentatively Kurt reached out his hand and slipped her fingers into his grasp. He gave a gentle squeeze before whispering her name. And there, under the softening glow of the light and the dreamy influence of sleep Kurt could have sworn he saw Nym's mouth pull up ever so slightly at the corners into a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

In his dream she was flying. Her hair drifted back and became the clouds as he stood on a mountaintop. He called out to her, but she refused to hear him. His words became fiery arrows that he spewed forth, each one aimed at her, but none could reach her wispy form. He looked down and saw black water rising up after her, hands grew from its oily waves and grasped her body, staining it with an inky black. Kurt screamed to her, tried to help her, but couldn't move from the mountain. As the black water encased her she looked at him. Her eyes were dripping red tears as she asked, 'Why didn't you save me?'

Kurt's body shot up from the dream. His head swept back and forth, taking in the messy lab room, trying to separate fact from dream. He sighed as he let his head hit his knees. 'Why couldn't I help her in my dream? I did help her! I saved her in the forest! I saved her from the Professor! So why am I still feeling so guilty?' he asked himself. It was true that he had done everything in his power to help her in the present, but the past, when she was still so small, he hadn't helped her. Many times he'd thought 'if only I could have teleported back then.' Then she wouldn't have left him, wouldn't have thought he needed protecting. But, then he wouldn't have met her either, if he had already learned to use his powers, he wouldn't have run from the boys who yelled 'monster'.

Kurt turned to look at Nym's still sleeping form. "I'm sorry," He whispered, "So sorry..."

It was clear, concise, her movement. Suddenly her hand was at his throat, a steely blade protruding from her index finger. Kurt couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

"Where am I?" Nym's hoarse voice asked. Kurt was in shock, and not just from the fact that she was threatening him; her voice had changed so much. It was once soft and musical and while it still held that underlying tone her words were sharper, as though they were carved instead of spoken.

"Yo-you're at the Xavier Institute." Kurt stuttered out. He slowly raised his head to look her in the eyes. Did she not recognize him? Did she not remember him? Surely she hadn't met one too many blue mutants to not remember him! Kurt felt his heart squeeze when he noticed she wasn't even looking at him. Instead her head swiveled around the room, taking it all in.

"Nym?" Kurt asked in a soft voice. He was scared now, scared that maybe it wasn't her at all, that he had been wrong all along. The doubts piled up in his mind, threatening his certainty.

Then she looked at him. Her large red eyes found his glowing yellow ones. She exploded. It was both a literal and metaphorical explosion. The metaphorical came from the fact that her face took on an expression of all out fear and shock. The literal was that she jumped halfway across the room, dropping the malformed blade that had been inside her hand. Several other pieces of unidentifiable metal fell from the skin on her feet and wrists as well.

"How?" Nym whispered, covering her open mouth with her hand. She was shaking and slowly sliding down to the floor. Kurt watched as she backed herself against a far wall and let her body drop into a crumpled position. Her eyes never left his, though, even as she began to cry.

"Nym! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that, really!" Kurt said, try to explain. He was at a loss for what to do for her. He hadn't given it much thought really, what he would say to her when she awoke. Now he wished he had.

"Ah, I thought I heard somebody wake up." Dr. McCoy said, his tone teasing, as he came in from the back of the lab room. Nym was up in an instant, her hands poised in front of her, tangled metal objects coming from each finger.

"Nym! No! He won't hurt you!" Kurt shouted, struggling to get up from the make-shift bed. As he approached her suddenly she turned a hand towards Kurt as well. He stopped, utterly stunned that she would think of him as a danger.

"Now, now, there's no need for all that. I just came in here to use the computer, I'll be out of here in a few, don't mind me." Dr. McCoy said, turning around to use the large computer, waving at her over his shoulder as if to say, 'carry on.'

Kurt didn't move at first. He didn't know if he should. He wanted to talk with Nym, to straighten things out. But, Dr. McCoy's presence was making it hard to say anything. Kurt wanted to bring up the past, but felt an immense uncomforting at the thought of another person hearing Nym and his shared history.

"There we are. You two play nice okay? I'll be back in about an hour with some lunch for you." Dr. McCoy said as he exited the lab into another attached lab room. Another reason Kurt didn't like coming down to the lab rooms was the labyrinth of labs that were available. Kurt heard a soft 'click' from the other side of the door; Dr. McCoy had locked them in. Both relief and fear flooded Kurt as he turned to look at Nym. She still had her hands pointed towards him, but the metal was no longer visible.

From the night before Kurt had learned that Nym had more of a flight than a fight response, something he was now glad of. By keeping her in the room she would probably feel trapped, but she would also not be able to run from him anymore. He had things he wanted to say, wanted to ask.

"Do-do you remember me?" Kurt asked. He decided to start out slow. He had to make sure that she really did know him, that her earlier response hadn't been a fluke.

Nym nodded slowly, dropping her outstretched arms and curling back into the wall. Kurt's heart leapt, it was his Nym!

"Do you remember my name?" Kurt asked taking another step forward, a smile on his face. Nym let gravity take hold of her as she sunk back to the floor, pulling her knees up in front of her.

"Kurt. Your name is Kurt." She stated. There was no emotion, just a level voice. Kurt felt hurt by her response, or rather lack of. Wasn't she happy to see him? He was ecstatic to even be near her.

"Do you not feel well?" Kurt suddenly asked, trying to explain her lack of interest, "If you feel sick I can call Dr. McCoy back in here!" Kurt leapt towards the door Dr. McCoy had exited from to call him back, to have him help her.

"No!" Nym shouted, her red eyes wide with fear, "No doctors, please…" she finished more quietly. Kurt stood still and watched as her head fell forward onto her knees. He didn't understand. He wanted to help, but couldn't figure out the problem.

"You know, you're safe here," Kurt said, hoping it was true, "I'll protect you, so you don't have to worry, okay?" He asked, walking over to her. He sat down beside her, careful not to touch her in case it set her off.

"Safe? In this place? I don't even know where the hell I am! Who the hell was that doctor? Why am I here? Why are you here?" Nym shouted at him, her eyes spilled over with clear tears. Kurt was reminded of his dream, 'Why didn't you save me?' He hadn't meant to hurt her, hadn't wanted to make her cry.

"Wait! I'm sorry! I'll explain everything, please don't cry!" Kurt said, putting his face down by hers. She pulled away from him, but didn't break eye contact. Her eyes dared him to explain everything. Kurt gulped.

"You see, this is the Xavier Institute for the gifted. It's a school that the Professor," Kurt's voice faltered at the mention of the Professor, "built for mutants. It's a place we can be safe. There are other mutants who live here too, like Dr. McCoy, the one you met before. Here we don't have to hide what we are; we have a place to be free." Kurt finished with a smile hoping she would give him any look but her dagger filled stare.

"How did you find me?" It wasn't a question, it was an accusation.

"We-well the Professor uses a special machine that lets him use his telekinesis to be able to find mutants all over the world. He found you that way. He said that we needed to help you so we came to find you. But, the Brotherhood was already there." Kurt paused and saw Nym's guarded expression. "The Brotherhood is led by Magneto, a mutant that wants to take over the world and ultimately kill all of the humans. But, we found you first and we were able to get you out of there."

Nym looked away, down at the floor in front of her. Kurt could see it all processing in her head.

"This Magneto, can he bend metal?" Nym asked, her eyes narrowing at Magneto's name.

"Um, yeah, he has control of metal." Kurt said, leaning in closer to her, wanting to know what she was thinking about. "Do you…Have you met him?" Kurt asked, scared to hear her response. His fear came from two places. One, if she had met Magneto before it would meant that he had tried to capture her, that he had tried to hurt her. Kurt's blood boiled at the thought of Magneto pulling the metal inside of Nym around, hurting her in a way that Kurt hadn't forethought to be aware of. Second, if they had met had Magneto already talked about his vision of a human free world with her? And if he had what did she think of the idea? Did she hate it as he did, or, did she find it a reasonable action to take against humans? All of this ran through his head, making him dizzy.

"Yeah, I've met him. Back in Stuttgart he approached me." She explained. 'Stuttgart?' Kurt thought in panic. It was well over 100 miles from Munich where they had first met. He had never really given much thought to what she had done after they had parted. In his mind he had kept her as the small girl who lived in the forest, but of course she had to have changed. 'I mean, she was in Michigan for crying out loud!'Kurt thought, inwardly punishing himself for having been so stupid as to overlook so much about her.

"I have to say, He's not someone I want to meet again." Nym said, referring to Magneto. She had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Did he hurt you?" Kurt asked. He was glad that Nym hadn't gotten along well with Magneto, but that meant that Magneto had tried to convince her otherwise.

"Well, yeah. I mean I guess I didn't realize how much metal I had in my body until it got ripped out…" Nym answered, looking blasé about the subject of pain. Kurt, however, was taken back. Magneto had done such a horrid thing to her?

Nym seemed to notice Kurt's shocked expression. "But, I got him back pretty good." Nym said a devious glint in her eye, "Shot a few chunks of rotten wood and moldy pipes at him, I'll bet he's still trying to get to smell off." She giggled, and for the first time Kurt saw her smile. It had a more hardened look to it, but she was still the same. Taking the pain others gave and laughing at her own crooked revenge.

"How did you get to America?" Kurt asked once she had stopped snickering. Nym's features dropped immediately. Her impish eyes fell blank and her mouth molded into strict frown. He regretted the question once he had asked it.

"Sorry! If you don't want to say I can-" Kurt began. Trying, and failing, to return to the light atmosphere they had had.

"No, it's okay," Nym said, "I figured I was going to have to tell you once we started talking." Her eyes scrunched up in a sad smile that had Kurt's heart in a knot. "I guess I should start from where I left you. Well, that damned man and the priest finally caught me. They took me back to their town and were saying they were going to burn me do dispel an evil demon from the world, just a bunch of stupid nonsense. They put a guard in the room with me, figured that he could stop my 'demonic powers' or something." Nym paused and brought up her hand to look at it.

"It was the first time I used my powers to kill someone." Kurt wasn't breathing. Her confession, if it could even be called that, had his mind reeling so fast that it was practically standing still, running in a never ending circle.

"He…the guard…that man tried to touch me. I was fucking 6 years old for god's sake! I…I wanted him to disappear so badly." Nym curled into herself, bringing her knees closer to her body, as though she was trying to keep something out. "So, I put my hand on the wall when he took off my dress. I screamed and told him to stop. I didn't even feel the rocks being absorbed by my skin. All I felt were the bits of now sharpened rock jettisoning themselves from my out stretched hand." She closed her eyes but continued with her story, "It…it took him a while to die. The rocks had been changed from the blunt boulders that my hand was on to small spear shaped projectiles. They didn't go in the way a bullet does. They kind of got stuck in the middle of him. He choked on his own blood and died in front of me."

"Nym…I…I…" Kurt wanted to say something, anything to erase the look of pain on her face. But no words were right. No action appropriate for the hardened girl beside him.

"Don't worry about it, Kurt. It happened a long time ago." Nym said opening her eyes and taking a deep breath. "After that I escaped again and started to head east. I lived in the woods for a few years before some hunters found me. They caught me and brought me to the orphanage in Stuttgart. The people there just thought I had some kind of birth defect. I made sure to keep my powers a secret form them. And, in all honesty, the staff there didn't care about me much. They had at least fifty orphans in the place with only four rooms to house us all. An anti-social kid was the least of their problems. I stayed there for about five years, living with these other children that had no place to be. Lots of them got adopted. There were a few times when families came and tried to talk with me, but, every time I acted wild, like I was having a fit or something, so that they wouldn't want me. I was scared that once they brought me home and found out that I was more different than them than they thought that they would throw me out, chase me away, call me 'demon'."

"Then, when I was about 15, that Magneto guy showed up. He came in all high and mighty like he was some big shot millionaire that wanted to adopt a kid. He had all of these shiny rings on his fingers and a big fur coat. All of the staff was so nice to him, showing him all of the kids dressed in their best outfits. By that time the staff had stopped even trying to get me adopted. They had either come to terms with the fact that I didn't want to leave, or they were just sick of dealing with me. So, in he comes, looks at all of the brightly dressed smiling kids, and doesn't seem too interested. Then he looks at me, standing in the hall by the stairs. The look in his eyes when he saw me read 'jackpot.' Next thing I know he asks to talk to me alone. The staff let him, but they warn him about my outbursts."

"Then, I'm sitting in a room with him, a table in between us. He's looking at me like he's god. It made me sick. Then he says, 'Do you know what you are?' I didn't give a damn and didn't answer him. He got rather irritated by this. Next thing I know I can feel the loose pocket change I kept around my hand's knuckles start to pull out of my skin. You see, I kept the change there so if I had to hit someone they would get a fist of metal instead of just my hand." Nym explained, letting a smile grace her features. Kurt assumed she was remembering a fight when her metal hand had come in handy.

"I'm pretty shocked and he can tell. Then he says, 'You didn't think you were the only one with powers did you?' I stayed calm and wouldn't look at him. He starts to go on about what a mutant is and how we are the chosen race of the world and how I deserve better than this. It was probably just my teenage attitude that made me say this, but, I will give myself credit here, I really know how to piss people off. 'Just shut up you senile old man! My god! I've never heard anyone go on for so long about such a dumb-ass idea! Who gives a flying fuck about race or power? Just because you have a few nice rings on your finger and some fancy words you think you have any right to tell me what I do and don't deserve! So shut the fuck up and get the hell out of my sight!' I said to him." Nym blushed slightly and smiled at Kurt's shocked expression.

"Yeah, I thought I was pretty bad-ass when I was younger. Like I said, I know how to piss people off." She smiled even wider at that before continuing, "It happened pretty fast really. First he turned a bright red, then purple, and then I felt it, my body being torn. It hurt like hell; I didn't realize I had that much metal inside of me. I guess I always liked having it on hand in case of a fight. There was some in each of my feet, my hands, below my stomach, under my left knee, and behind my right ear. Honestly, I didn't keep track of what I was absorbing back then, I would just walk around and whatever I stepped on I absorbed and kept."

Kurt looked down and saw Nym's shoeless feet. It made sense that she wouldn't want to wear them if that was how she mainly absorbed things. She would need a part of her skin touching something solid if she wanted to fight.

"The Magneto guy starts yelling all of these crazy things about my own demise and how stupid I am. And wouldn't you know it through all of that pain and blood loss I still managed to tell him to 'Shut up' right before I put my hand on the floor and send a bunch of rotten wood and moldy broken pipes right at him."

"You know what hurts worse than having all of the metal taken out of your body? Having it all put back in. When the bastard got hit with my, admittedly small, stream of rotten junk he must have snapped cause he threw every last piece of metal right back into me. I almost passed out from the pain. The staff heard the noise and came running up. Magneto started to try and get away, he ran out of the room, last I saw of him. Then suddenly I'm alone because they are trying to corner him downstairs and call the police. I don't know if they even saw me laying there. But, I guess it was good that they didn't, because that was when I learned to mold my own flesh."

"I guess I always could, but I had never had the guts to try and rearrange my own body. Sure I can absorb and mold pretty much anything, but living flesh was something I had always shied away from. So, there I am just laying there bleeding when suddenly I decide that I don't want to die here, that I wasn't going to die here. My adrenaline took over and I started to remold the metal that was now back in my body around my broken bones, he had gotten me in the arm and leg pretty badly. Then I put my hand in the puddle of blood coming from my stomach, he had gotten a cheap shot in there. And I just start taking back in what had bled out. Pretty soon there's no puddle on the floor and I'm not feeling so light headed. Then I looked down at the open wounds on my arm, leg, and stomach. They're pretty bad. I put my hand over the hole in my stomach and start to try and seal the flesh back together. It hurt a lot, not as much as the metal, but still a lot. By then it wasn't even a question of wounds, though, I was exhausted from using my powers so much and trying to heal myself. I passed out before I could try to seal my arm and leg."

"Next thing I know I wake up in a hospital, the bad kind. You see, the orphanage couldn't afford to have me patched up all nice by an expensive hospital. Instead the staff brought me to a rundown place just outside of town. Really sketchy, like they take people apart and don't put them back together there. I'd heard of it before, the kids called it 'The Chop Shop'. Guess the orphanage didn't think I was going to pull through so they figured they could make a quick buck. You could bring people there; living or dead, and they would take what they wanted for the underground markets and give you money, pretty rough set up right?" Nym asked rhetorically. Kurt was astounded. All of this in only a few short years? It didn't seem possible, 'But it is…' Kurt thought. The guilt of his own easy, in comparison, childhood dug into his stomach, churning its empty contents.

"So I come to just as they are setting me up on this table and I recognize the fucked up set up they have going on. Every child on the streets knows what it means when a man with a dirty scalpel comes at you. So I grab onto the metal table they have me strapped to and absorb the sections around my hands. By then the guys with the knives are freaking out, after all my hands had just eaten half of the table. And damn, if they weren't surprised then they sure were when I shot the metal back out of my arms cutting the straps. Well, they start to shout and run, and I figure that I'm in the clear except for the fact that the basterds have pried open my leg wound and all of this blood just spills out form it, guess they wanted something from inside, so I can't even walk. I don't get why in the hell these big men are so scared of me, who was at that point pretty close to passing out again from that dammed leg of mine. They're running around screaming something I couldn't make out, grabbing things from the shelves and trying to get out the door. Then all of a sudden there's this huge bang and these police men come storming in. They start to arrest the guys and when they see me, well, they know it isn't good. Of course I saw pretty scared of them, back then police were never a good thing for me, but these officers didn't have the same uniform that the Stuttgart police did. They wore all black with big bulky shields that had something written in English on them. As you can guess I fainted after all of that. When I wake up it's in a really clean room, but not like science lab clean, more like homey clean. There're these flowers on the table next to me and I can feel these tubes in my arms feeding me nutrients. The blankets are soft and the light is dim, and damn, I really thought I was in heaven. I figured that I had finally bit the bullet. I can't tell you how happy I was then, when I thought that room was heaven. After years and years of people telling me I'm a demon and I deserve nothing more than hell I wind up in heaven! It was great until the nurse came in, until she started to mumble English words I didn't know, until they brought in a translator." Nym's face was set in a hardened expression of misplaced trust.

"They said that I had been saved by the American government. Apparently the police that had stormed through the chop shop that night were an elite group of American officers who had been tracking the illegal sale of human organs. They had found the hideout the night I had been there. At first I'm pretty surprised that Germany would let some American police have so much power, but, the lady explains that because the Americans took care of stopping the trafficking ring the German government didn't have to admit that there even was one, a pretty good publicity stunt for both the countries. And, when I ask the translator why I'm here in America she says that I was a charity case of the mission. Since the German government got to deny the existence of the trafficking they didn't want anything to do with a victim of what they were denying. So, the officers got to bring me back here to receive treatment from a real hospital. I turn into a pity case in a small town in Oregon, where I was receiving treatment. The poor little girl who was already born so ugly saved by a group of courageous overseas officers just before she was going to die! They get a lot of press and my picture gets published." Nym stopped her story to sigh, "I fucking hated it all. They treated me like I wasn't human, like I had never known that there was a better life outside of my old dirty one. Hell! I wasn't stupid enough to not wonder what I didn't have back in Germany. We had TVs in the windows of shops where I would watch actors and celebrities run around in tidy homes with shiny jewelry. I knew what I didn't have. And it pissed me off that those American doctors and journalists assumed that I was ignorant of everything around me."

"But…how did you get to Michigan?" Kurt asked as Nym stopped talking. He was astounded, but he also felt a certain familiarity with her story. He, too, had been treated oddly when he first arrived at the institute. He had felt stupid when the students had thought that he needed to be taught what a toaster oven and a computer were just because he had come from a back woods farm. He had played along then. He could still see Evan's smiling face telling him what each of the buttons on the microwave were for, though Kurt could read them easily. And, he could still feel the want to punch Evan in the face for assuming he was stupid enough to not understand what the word 'defrost' meant. It hurt, to be told that you were stupid, to be thought of as something alien.

"Well, I stayed in the hospital in Oregon for about two months, just long enough for my wounds to heal, before I snuck out. I grabbed some clothes form a store I broke into and started to head east. Learning English was pretty easy since I had already picked up bits here and there in Germany and now I was surrounded by it. I didn't really have a place to go, but, I ended up jumping from one homeless shelter to another. Unfortunately, I was easy to track. The people in Oregon were less than happy that I had left and they had posters and whatnot up with a 'Have You Seen This Child?' title. It would have been easy to blend in if I didn't look like this, but I had to be careful, wear sunglasses and hats all the time. Pretty soon I had made it to North Dakota. Like I said I didn't know where I was going, just that I didn't want to go back to any place I'd been before. It was when I was passing through part of Minnesota that I met the, what did you call them, the 'Brotherhood'?" Nym asked Kurt.

"Yeah, there are about three of them, all guys." Kurt said, answering quickly. He wanted her to continue.

"Yeah, those guys. Well, I met them for the first time there and man were they a pain in the ass! They just came at me out of nowhere telling me to give up and come with them. So, I kicked their asses. It was a pretty messy fight, left a lot of damage behind and so I went to Wisconsin. They found me there again, and I dealt with them. Honestly, they're not very bright are they?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, they're not!" Kurt answered laughing when she shook her head in pity at them.

"Well, I guess you know what happens next, I make it to Michigan and there those dumb-asses are, still trying to 'capture' me. But, this time there were more of them, and the new ones were stronger, not at stupid…" Nym said trailing off, looking to Kurt for an explanation.

"Yeah, that was us. We were trying to help you too, though, with hindsight bias I have to say we did a pretty bad job..." Kurt said looking down out of embarrassment, "But why did the Professor say that your name was Natalie?"

"Hmm? Oh, that was the name that the hospital gave me. I used it a few times when I was traveling I guess. It was weird to hear all of your team calling me that." Nym answered. "So? What about you? What's your story?" Nym asked. She scooted closer, letting their knees bump together.

"M-my story?" Kurt asked, his voice going high. The contact with her had made is heart race. She wasn't afraid of him anymore! He had earned, as least some, of her trust! "We-well, I grew up on the farm with my parents and then one day I got a letter about coming to the institute. My parents both thought it was a great idea and I decided to come." He answered. Kurt felt very awkward at the fact that his journey only took a few seconds to explain.

Nym nodded as he stopped talking. Kurt could feel the heat of her skin from where their knees touched. It sent him back to when they were younger, when she had touched him so easily.

"Hey, just thought you guys might be hungry." Dr. McCoy said as he came through the other lab's door with two trays of hot food. Kurt felt Nym tense, but instead of moving herself away from both of them, she scooted closer to Kurt, putting herself half behind him. Kurt felt his chest swell with the pride that she believe he could protect her. It surged through him and brought a goofy grin to his face.

"Hmm?" Dr. McCoy asked as he saw Kurt's smile. But he only laughed under his breath when he realized why Kurt was grinning. "Well, here you go fresh soup and a dinner roll with some milk." Dr. McCoy said, placing the trays on the lab table as though it was a high class restaurant. "I'll be right back with some clothes for the young lady." With that he exited to the room once more, leaving Kurt and Nym.

"Are you hungry?" Kurt asked her. He had to move his head sideways to look behind himself and see her eyeing the food with hunger in her eyes. She looked so cute sitting there on the floor waiting for him to move first, for him to say the food was hers to eat. "I'll get some chairs for us." Kurt said a she stood up and started to move around some of the lab stools to the table.

"We really get to eat all of this?" Nym asked as she toke r seat nest o Kurt. He had purposely arranged them next to each other instead of across. It felt better to have her closer to him.

"Yep, this looks like Storm's famous chicken noodle soup so it should be really good." Kurt answered licking his dry lips before he dipped his spoon into the warm broth.

It wasn't until Kurt was raising the spoon to his mouth did he notice that she was copying him. She only dunked her spoon in when he did, and slurped up the soup quietly just like him. Kurt giggled under his breath as he watched her chase the last of the noodles around the bottom of her bowl as he had just moments before.

Nym looked up at him when she heard his laughter. Kurt locked eyes with her and smiled. Her white face exploded in a pink blush. He had never seen her blush before and the new sight had Kurt's mind and heart reeling. Was there nothing she could do that wouldn't make him have a heart attack? She was just too cute, he decided. He tough front was scary, but, under that her vulnerable side was too much to resist.

"You okay over there?" Kurt asked in a teasing tone as she looked away, trying to hide her pink blushing face.

"F-fine!" Nym answered a little too loud. Her voice was panicked and embarrassed. Kurt felt worried at her response.

"Hey, really, I was only teasing. It was cute how you copied me when we were eating. I didn't mean to make you upset." He apologized, leaning in close to her.

"I-I haven't eaten with someone in a long time, okay? I just wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I mean usually I eat half a cup of refried beans at a shelter with my hands. This is just…different…" Nym explained in a whisper. Kurt understood then that she felt the gap between them. Suddenly, Kurt didn't want to see her blush again, he didn't like to see her looking inferior to anyone, especially himself. His hand reached out for her shoulder as the back lab door opened.

"All done? Well, that was pretty fast, though the homemade chicken noodle soup doesn't usually last long in this house anyway." Dr. McCoy said with a smile. He had a small bundle of clothes tucked under his arm. He set them on a smaller table before he came over to get the trays.

Nym tucked herself away from Dr. McCoy again, but not behind Kurt this time. Kurt felt himself sink; he had upset her without meaning to.

"You can go and see what fits in the closet there if you want." Dr. McCoy said as he stacked the trays. Nym slid off the chair and cautiously went over the clothes. She grabbed them and disappeared into the closet in the back without a word.

Kurt sighed as she disappeared. He wanted to make her happy, but he only seemed to be hurting her with everything he did.

"Not feeling too good there Kurt?" Dr. McCoy asked, settling into the chair next to Kurt.

"I just don't know what to do for her. I mean I brought her here but it doesn't seem like she wants to stay or even be near me at all. I can't help but see the gap between or lives and I wish that it wasn't there." Kurt explained, letting his head hang low. "Maybe I shouldn't have saved her. Maybe I should just let her go…" Kurt said his voice growing dark.

Just then a loud crash came from the closet where Nym had been changing. Kurt leapt over the table to the closet without thinking. He banged on the door, screaming "Nym! Nym! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"N-no, I'm fine…a box fell that's all…" Her agitated voice trailed off and Kurt heard the rustle of moving cardboard.

"Just let her go eh?" Dr. McCoy asked, his tone mocking, as he carried the trays out of the lab. Kurt shot him an annoyed glance before the doctor mad it out of the room.

It was true, though, no matter how much Kurt second guessed his actions his body always chose the protect her. She was embedded into his mind, woven in his skin, carved in his bones. He couldn't leave her because she was so much a part of him.

Another sudden crash form the closet followed by a muffled curse had Kurt in a panic once more. This time he didn't bang on the door but ripped it open instead, sending the beams of the lab room's light into the closet. And there he saw her.

She sat in the middle of the small room, surrounded by over turned and fallen boxes. Her back was facing him, but not just her back, her nude back. At once Kurt realized that she was topless. He felt his face heat up as he let out a surprised, "Sorry!" before shutting the door to the closet once more, embarrassed by his own thoughts. In those few second a thousand dirty scenarios had run through his head, each one ending up with him and Nym entangled. His breathing was haggard as he tried to shove those thoughts away. But, it wasn't just that she hadn't had a shirt on that had made his breath shaky. It was what he had seen on her back, what had stared right at him when he opened the door. Those same seven scars from their first meeting were still embedded in her skin.


	7. Chapter 7

"Kurt? Are you okay?" Nym asked. Kurt heard her step out of the lab closet and turned to see her. She had a loose fitting sweatshirt on coupled with a pair of too-long pants that hung off her slim frame pooling around her bare feet. Her hair was tied up in a low braid by a piece of worn string that mirrored the red color of her eyes.

"U-um yeah! I'm fine!" Kurt answered blushing as he stood up, "The clothes fit pretty well?"

"Hmm," Nym sighed twisting the loose fabric of the sweatshirt in her hand, "Well the pants are quite a bit too big see?" At once Nym lifted up the sweatshirt revealing her bare stomach and hanging jean waistband to him. Kurt looked away immediately embarrassed by her brashness. His mind ran wild with fantasies of her, of who he would touch her if he could.

"Do you have a belt or something?" Nym asked pulling her shirt down oblivious to Kurt's thoughts.

"Oh, um…" Kurt said looking around the lab room. 'Dumbass! There's not just going to be a belt lying around in the freaking lab!' Kurt's mind scolded him.

Nym's head tilted sideways before she began to lift up her shirt again this time tucking the edge under her chin to keep it lifted.

"What! What are you?" he asked frantically. Why was she tormenting him? Did she know what she did to him? The power her every movement had over him?

"I'm just making a belt." Nym answered running her hand along the trim of the sweatshirt. She absorbed a chunk of the end fabric in one hand as a long thin string came out of her other hand. In a flash she had the make-shift belt strung through the belt loops around her pants and tied tight around her waist.

"There, that should do it." She commented before letting her sweatshirt drop. Kurt merely stood and stared at her. He was at a loss as to what he should be doing with himself. On the one hand he was sad because her actions had been for nothing more than her own convenience. But, on the other hand he felt an immense amount of guilt for ever having even thought of her in such an impure way. She was his angel, his pure hearted love.

The back lab door sprang open suddenly revealing Dr. McCoy dressed in his lab coat. Kurt froze like a man caught in a criminal act while Nym took a defensive stance, though, no weapons formed from her skin.

"Hmm?" Dr. McCoy asked as he stepping into the room pausing as he saw the two very different expressions on the teens' faces, "Did I interrupt?"

"No! No, of course not!" Kurt said backing up slightly and waving his arms in front of him as a dark blush crawled up his face. Nym glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow. Dr. McCoy merely laughed to himself before walking over to the computer.

"Well, if you two don't mind I have a lot of work to get done and as much as I love having guest I'm sure the lady would like a tour of her new surroundings" Dr. McCoy trailed off.

"Oh! Of course, sorry to have bothered you!" Kurt quickly apologized as he spun on his foot and walked towards the exit. He stopped suddenly realizing that Nym wasn't beside him. Kurt glanced back and noticed that Nym was staring intently at Dr. McCoy's large computer screen.

"Radioactivity in mutant cells?" Nym asked breaking the silence. Dr. McCoy turned in his chair with an impressed look on his face.

"You could tell just by looking at the molecules?" Dr. McCoy asked, sounding astounded. Kurt glanced from one to the other not understanding what either was talking about. To him the blobs on the screen all looked the same, no one more identifiable then the other.

"Yeah, those are obviously mutant cells from the shape of the nucleus and then there are the radioactive particles there, looks like uranium." Nym answered pointing to one side of the screen and then the other.

"Well, I'll be. Seems like you're a regular biochemist! Kurt did you hear her! Amazing! You really must stop by again so we can chat more. I would love to hear what all you can identify both through your powers and your knowledge." Dr. McCoy finished sending Nym a delighted smile. Nym nodded slightly before she turned and walked past Kurt towards the exit. Kurt looked to Dr. McCoy and received nothing but a wink from the furry mutant before the doctor resumed his work, humming a very happy tune to himself.

"Kurt?" Nym asked standing next to the door. Kurt shook his head and quickly followed her out, his jaw still hanging open.

As soon as they left the lab room Kurt was assaulted with the crisp scent of bleach, the only produce the Professor would allow the underground tunnels to be cleaned with. The vast expanse of the mansion's underground stared Kurt in the face. He didn't know which way to turn at that moment.

"Wow, you weren't lying when you said institute. This place would need a fancy title like that." Nym commented. As she did she edged her body closer to Kurt's. Her hands delved into the too-long sleeves of her sweatshirt and she brought her shoulders down around her. Kurt recognized her position at once, it was the same one she had when she had first woken up, she was getting ready to bolt.

"Yeah, this place can be kind of odd," Kurt laughed leading Nym down the hallway, "But it's really not so bad once you get used to it. See, there's the elevator. It'll take us up to the mansion part of the institute where we all live." He explained. Nym shrunk into his side and wove her arm around his grasping at his sleeve. Kurt felt a pleasant rill go up his spine at their contact. He reached forward and pushed the button to summon the elevator.

At last the elevator came, announcing its arrival with a loud ding. Nym jumped back at the sound but Kurt assured her by weaving his hand into her own. As they boarded the elevator Kurt hoped Nym couldn't feel his heartbeat, which was by many standards off the charts, through her hand. It was like a dream to be so close to her to have her relying on him. Kurt inwardly prided himself as the elevator climbed to the upper floors.

Kurt dared a glance at Nym and found her looking at the control dial of the elevator, watching it go up and up as they neared the top of the mansion. He found it incredibly cute that her eyes followed each of the floor numbers as they lit up. Kurt's own eyes were automatically drawn to her face, which he could now appreciate freely without worrying if she would catch him. He traced her jaw and neck, appreciating their angular yet soft design. Just as he was about to follow her neck down to her shoulders the sweatshirt shifted slightly revealing the top of the back of her neck to him. Kurt looked greedily and found himself thanking the fact that she had tied her hair back. But, as he glanced over he saw them, two light pink scars, poking out of the loose fabric of her sweatshirt. He averted his eyes immediately, feeling some kind of shame drip down over him.

Kurt's mind raced back to when he had seen her in the lab closet, to when he had seen the scars still carved into her skin. 'Why doe she still have those? Shouldn't she have been able to get rid of them if she waned to?' Kurt asked himself worry clouding his face. 'It was true she had said she could mold her own flesh so then why not get rid of the scars? Why not rid herself of such a painful memory? Could it be that they mean something to her? Or am I just over thinking this and she just didn't take the time to fix them, I mean they are on her back.' His mind spun with questions that he was too scared to voice. He didn't want her to think him insensitive for asking. And there would still be the problem of explaining how he even knew they were there! But, would she care if he asked? Surely she had to know that he saw some part of her when he had come into the lab closet, right?

The elevator let out a coarse ding that made Nym jump slightly and grip his hand and arm tighter. Her movement shocked Kurt out of his thoughts. He had even bigger issues right in front of him, like how he was going to smoothly give Nym a tour. He felt ashamed for not thinking up a strategy on their way up.

Nym gave him an expectant look as the doors opened. Kurt took a careful step out of the elevator and onto the soft carpet of the west hallway. He glanced down each side of the hallway and gave a slight sigh of relief when he noticed there was no one around. 'Okay first things first I need to come up with a way to A) Keep Nym safe from everyone, B) Keep everyone safe from Nym, and C) make Nym think I have half an idea of what I'm doing!' Kurt inwardly screamed.

"Umm, hey, Nym do you mind if we go to my room first? I want to change out of my uniform, spandex it's exactly the most comfortable lounge wear." Kurt joked. He hoped to guide her to his room, change, and in that amount of time come up with a strategy to keep the afore mentioned A, B, and C in place.

"Sure, I can't say that it looks to comfortable. Why do you all wear those things anyway?" Nym asked, crinkling her nose as she looked Kurt over. Kurt felt his heart sink. Sure it wasn't his first choice of a fashion statement but he didn't think it looked that bad. He looked down sheepishly in embarrassment before turning to lead Nym down the hall and to his room.

"Of course, I can see why it would be useful to have a 'team look', so to speak. You all pretty much wear the same colors and the material seems to let you move easily enough. Though, I haven't seen you in normal clothes yet so I'm kind of curious…" Nym trailed off, her fingers under her chin in an exaggerated thinking pose. At once Kurt felt relived. Her words made the shame of earlier vanish, 'Though, it was her words that caused the shame in the first place.' Kurt reminded himself. He brushed off his negative thoughts and began to explain the different wings of the mansion.

"The west wing, where we are now, houses all of the male room while the inner section has the female rooms. The east wing is the kitchen and gym and the bottom floor core is the living room and dining room." Kurt explained, motioning with his hands as they walked. Nym nodded at each piece of information but she kept her head down, not looking at Kurt or her surroundings.

They finally reached Kurt's room, which Kurt was admittedly thankful for since the mood had somehow turned sour. Nym hadn't spoken and after a while she had even stopped nodding as he told her about the mansion.

"This is my room." Kurt said opening the door. At once he wished he had cleaned his room, or at least remembered the state of distress it was in, before he had brought her to it. Scattered clothes adorned the floor and piles of books and mismatched CD cases lined each corner of his room. His bookshelves were already jam packed with notes and school books that he hardly had a place to keep his less educational items.

Kurt watched as Nym's eyes swept the room. They seemed to land on his bed in the far corner. Kurt mentally smacked himself for not having made his bed before the mission.

"Aren't you going to change?" Nym asked, unhooking her arm with his. Kurt's face betrayed his disappointment with her loss of bodily contact.

"Oh, yeah, sorry I'll just go change in the bathroom and be right out." He answered. Kurt shuffled slowly towards the bathroom, trying to spot a clean, or at least seemingly clean, shirt and pants he could wear. Kurt bent low and swiftly scooped up one of the more clean looking piles of laundry in his arms. He gave a quickly glance back at Nym to see if she was looking. To his surprise, and relief, she had not turned her attention away from his bed and had in fact taken a few steps closer to it. Kurt turned quickly and headed into the bathroom to change.

'Be calm, be cool,' Kurt silently chanted to himself as he slipped his plain white T-shirt on over his head. His hands were shaking slightly as he turned to look at himself in the mirror. The same blue face greeted him with a worried expression. 'Figures' he thought, 'I can't even look a little less like a monster in front of her. Come on god give me some help here, just a bit less blue, just a little less fur, maybe even pop on another finger or two.' Kurt half prayed half pleaded. But another inspection of himself revealed no change.

Kurt let out a sign as he turned to exit the bathroom, doing one last check of himself in the mirror, this time not to see if he had somehow magically become human but to make sure that what he was working with didn't look too bad. 'Hair', well there wasn't really much he could to with his unruly hair being that the cow-licks he had almost numbered in the double digits. 'Clothes', hand-me-downs from Scott, a plain V-neck white T-shirt and khaki pants, nothing particularly attractive. 'Face', Kurt looked into the mirror and let out another sigh. 'There really is no helping me is there…' he thought sadly before opening the door figuring that the longer he stayed in the bathroom the more flaws he would find.

When Kurt first exited the bathroom he found himself in shock, Nym was no where to be found! His eyes scanned the room but he couldn't see her standing anywhere. Then he heard a shifting of fabric coming from his bed, and there she lay, half spread out over the covers holding a book and reading it intently. He let a relieve breath flow from his lungs before he crossed the room to see what she was doing. As Kurt neared her he realized just what kind of position she was in, laying on her stomach on his bed, legs bent at the knees sending her feet shooting up into the air as her too-long pants fell from gravity's oppression to reveal her creamy ankles.

'Stop it!' Kurt's more rational, and not hormone driven, side screamed. He shook his head as he neared her, trying to keep his mind focused. As he got to the bed Kurt bent down slightly to see that Nym was holding his copy of _Lord of the Flies_ in her little white hands. She stared at the words on the page intently, the lighter center of her read eyes moving along each line to absorb the words.

"Do you like it?" Kurt asked motioning to the book. Nym stopped reading a looked up at him. Her eyes traveled down his body slowly causing Kurt to shift uncomfortably. He hadn't thought she would appraise him so openly.

"You look better in civilian clothes." Nym finally stated closing the book but keeping it in her hands. Well that did it Kurt was never going to be able to wear the uniform again after receiving her complement.

"Th-thanks." Kurt stammered happily, bubbles of pride and confidence welling up in him. For a few seconds neither spoke as Kurt came down from his complement high.

"So, have you read it before?" Kurt asked again once more nodding towards the book. Nym looked down and ran her fingers slowly over the crumpled cover.

"Yes, once before. I was in a library, you know using the free bathroom to clean up in, when I saw the cover of this book on a shelf and just grabbed it." Nym answered shifting the book so that the cover was right side up.

In Kurt's opinion the cover was just down right creepy. It was a close up of a child's face with twigs and leaves woven in around the boy's head while a nest of sorts sat in the corner covered in flies. But, it wasn't those images that made Kurt flinch when he looked at he cover, it was the boy's eyes. At first glance they seemed almost hollow and lifeless. But, a closer inspection relived them to be not empty but hardened. The kind of eyes that are product of seeing horrible things, or witnessing atrocious acts, the kind of eyes Kurt had seen on Nym's face when she had first awoken.

"I read it all in one night sitting by a lit up bus station sign." She said her mind drifting. Kurt watched as he eyes grew darker, traveled further away from him. He glanced won and saw the boy's eyes, and as he looked up he saw their exact reflection in Nym's.

At once Kurt's heart began to race. The likeness of the cold child on the cover and Nym's own hardened stare sent shivers through him. Nym seemed so far away, too far away, from him, as though she was already out the door and racing down the street. Kurt shook his head trying to dispel the thoughts from his mind. But they wouldn't leave, to more that he watched her as her hands smoothed over the cover to more he worried. How long before she too only looked at him with cold eyes? How long before she hardened her gaze completely? How long before she left him?


	8. Chapter 8

The silence of the room seemed to suffocate Kurt. His mind couldn't stand still long enough for him to get a grip on the situation or what he was to do with it. She appeared content, so to speak, in his room. But, sooner or later they were going to encounter someone in the mansion. 'If only there weren't any other people here…' Kurt mentally wished. Upon this thought others gradually settled, most of them leading to the rather perverse side of his mind where he pictured Nym and himself coming together in a space where no one could ever interrupt them.

"Kurt?" Nym asked, her head slightly cocked to the side. Kurt shook his head to dispel the thoughts and brought his mind back to reality.

"Y-yeah? Sorry I kind of got lost in…thought…" Kurt stammered feeling ashamed for once more thinking of her in such a way. He looked down at her and saw the doubt gathering in her eyes, the mistrust there forming a foggy space between them that he could not cross.

"I-I was just wondering if you liked the book! Yeah, I read it for class and now we are writing a paper on it but I don't think I get what the author was doing at all. You know, with all of the kids and the killing and whatnot I was just confused about what I should write about! And, and that's what I was thinking about when you just said my name and so…I just…um…" Kurt trailed off. He was beyond embarrassed. Not only had he rambled on and on about pretty much nothing but he had also just admitted to thinking about mere school work when he was supposed to be helping Nym! 'I'm an idiot, a grade-A idiot' He thought to himself letting his shoulders slump and giving her an awkward smile.

She just stared at him, her eyes slightly wider than usual. Kurt felt the perspiration of humiliation begin to form on his hands and neck. He ducked his head lower so she couldn't see his face. The shame was forming tears of self-frustration in his eyes that he was sure would soon brim over.

"Oh, I get it." Nym finally said letting her face relax as she slowly sat up on his bed. Kurt jerked his head up his eyes searching her face for a sign that he had not just made a blunder that would send them apart.

"You do?" Kurt asked, more than a little strain in his voice as he unconsciously leaned towards her. Nym smiled faintly and patted her hand on the bed signaling him to take a seat next to her.

Well no amount of drugs, legal or otherwise, could have given Kurt the high he was experiencing now. His heart fluttered against his ribcage and his skin practically jumped right off his body. He was going to get to be with Nym on a bed! Sure the context was nothing like what he was subconsciously imagining but still the very thought, no the very action, as he was already stepping towards the bed, brought him to a level of bliss he wasn't sure had existed until just then.

"Sure. At first the book was kind of hard to understand, you know?" Nym asked as Kurt slowly climbed onto the bed and sat himself down less than a foot away from her. He could sense everything all at once. 'Could I always feel my blood pulsing in my hands like this? Did my fur usually stand on end just from being near a girl? Does she know? Can she hear my heart beating? Does she know how close it is to jack hammering its way out of my chest!' all these questions and more passed through Kurt's mind as Nym scooted closer to him holding the book out so he too could see it. Though, in all honesty, the book was the last place Kurt was looking. She was now just a few inches away, her shoulder almost touching his, just hovering there, so close to his own.

"See the author was trying to say that given a situation without any order humans are bound to descend into a world of senseless killing and violence, that no matter the circumstances all humans, of any age, are inherently malicious and if given the chance can, and will, do horrendous things." Nym answered.

Well the world had stopped spinning. Kurt was sure of this. The reason, he was getting snuggly on a bed with the girl of his dreams and she had just spouted out a long winded explanation for the thoughts of William Golding and the basic premise of his award winning novel _Lord of the Flies_. Could there possibly be anything less romantic than the discussion of one, children killing each other, and two, the ultimate demise of humans based on physiological principal that any and all humanity is evil. Kurt couldn't think of anything more mood-killing. 'Scratch that,' He thought remembering the time the Brotherhood had dared Blob to streak during a soccer game. 'Yup, nothing worse than that' he concluded in his mind. His attention shifted from the horrors of the obese naked mutant back to Nym as she tucked a stand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh, I guess you know a lot about it, huh?" Were the only words Kurt could muster as Nym flipped through the book her whole focus on its crinkled pages. A sigh formed in his chest but before he could let it out a knock came from his door. Kurt stiffened immediately. His protective stance brought him to a stand in front of the bed as his arms swung out slightly from his sides to better protect Nym.

"Kurt?" a voice asked from the other side of the door. At the sound Kurt stiffened, it was the Professor's voice. And not only that, Kurt could hear the shuffling of other feet outside his door as well meaning that the Professor was not alone.

"Yes Professor?" Kurt answered back, his tone defiant.

"I would like to speak to you and your, um, friend in the lounge if that's all right?" the Professor asked. Kurt stayed still for a few moments before turning so he could see Nym's expression. She hadn't moved since the knock on the door, her body still curled up on his bed.

Nym met his eyes with a vacant expression. Kurt turned to face her fully now, rather sure that the Professor and whoever else was with him wouldn't enter the room. He took a step closer to the bed and leaned down slightly setting his hands on the edge of the bed in front of Nym.

"Are you okay with this?" He whispered, though he was sure that everyone outside the door could hear him. The house was dead silent, a very rare and often foreboding occurrence.

"If we do go, and that is a decision that I believe should be left up to you, and things turn, well, ugly don't be surprised if I defend myself." Nym answered setting the book down slowly on Kurt's nightstand.

Kurt was taken aback by her serious expression. Those red eyes narrowed and her lips came together in a tension filled frown.

"My decision?" he whispered not sure he understood her words. Why should he be the one to make the choice when it could be her life on the line?

"Yes, because you know these people better than I ever will. I figure that you can tell if they will attack me or not. In a way I guess I'm trusting you to know what to expect, though, I suppose asking you to predict the future is a bit much." Nym explained. She let a weak laugh out before slowly reaching her hand towards his. Her slim fingers touched the fur on his hands and settled there.

Kurt's mind was racing, he had to protect her, she trusted him, him! This was what he had worried about ever since they had been reunited, would she ever trust him again? And here she was graciously saying that not only would she trust him but she would put her life on the line for that trust. However, Kurt wasn't sure what the Professor had planned or how the other students would react to Nym. But those factors seemed like mere afterthoughts as he soared above the clouds with the elation that in some way, be it big or small, she was once again the Nym he remembered. But, unlike before when he had blindly run ahead of her down the dirt road this time he would make sure that Nym didn't regret following him.

Kurt gulped as he shifted the hand Nym was touching so that he could hold her bone white fingers in his. "I-I'm not entirely sure what they will do. But, no matter what happens," Kurt raised his voice as he made his declaration insuring that everyone outside the door would hear his resolve, "I will not let them hurt you, even if I have to fight them myself." The words left a sour taste in Kurt's mouth. Never before had he so wholly committed himself to a fight. His motto had always been to remain easygoing and somewhat unattached to the fights so that he wouldn't make any stupid decisions. Yet, he now discarded that way of planning in a second for her.

Kurt stood up and let Nym slowly climb down from the bed, never letting go of her hand. Together they stood side by side and faced the closed door.

"Professor, we will meet you in the lounge. I ask that only a few attend so that we can have a calm discussion." Kurt said, his voice strong as his resolve to protect Nym became his only line of focus.

"Of course," the Professor answered in a calm tone, "I do not want this to be anything more than a friendly chat about what is to be done in the future. I assure you that it will just be myself, Logan, Dr. McCoy, and Storm present."

Satisfied that Dr. McCoy would be a part of the meeting, seeing as how he was one of the few supporters of Nym, Kurt agreed to the terms and walked slowly towards the door. He could feel Nym tensing beside him, but he kept a firm hold on her hand.

"We will meet you there." Kurt said stopping a foot from the door.

"Very well, I'll have Strom bring up some tea as well. The rest of you return to your rooms, you all have school tomorrow and I'd rather that you didn't hand in blank assignments." The Professor answered in a loud voice. Kurt heard a few groans and lots of shuffling, but, after about a minute the hallway was silent again.

Nym shifted beside him, her free hand twisting the fabric of her oversized sweatshirt. "Is it a long walk to the lounge?" she asked looking up at Kurt.

"Nah, it's just down the hall." Kurt answered. She was wound like a coil, her nerves and muscles tightened, ready to spring in to action. He turned to face her bending down a little so they were on eye level. Kurt's free hand swung up to her shoulder and rested there with an affirming squeeze. He wasn't going to let anything hurt her, 'Never again…' Kurt chanted to himself.

"I won't let them hurt you, you don't need to worry and as for walking there, well, I thought we could take a quicker route." Kurt said smiling at her. Nym cocked her head to one side before smiling slightly back at him.

"You know, we don't have to go. You don't have to do this for me." Nym whispered. Her voice was strained as though she was fighting just to get the words out. Kurt saw it again, that distant fog in her eyes. "I could just leave, everything would go back to normal…just like before…" the last part she hardly even murmured. The words drifted into the space between them.

Did she not believe he could protect her? 'No, it's more than that.' Kurt thought, "She's hiding something…" But, these worries were forgotten when Kurt suddenly understood her last words, 'just like before'. It didn't take but a few seconds for Kurt to understand that Nym was referencing their first departure from each other. How she had sacrificed herself for him, how he had let it happen. Guilt swelled up in Kurt and lit his anger aflame.

"I will never let you do anything like that again!" he practically growled, gripping her hand tighter. Kurt let his hand drop from her shoulder before teleporting them both to the well furnished lounge at the end of the hall.


	9. Chapter 9

Their re-entry left a loud echo to resound around the large wooden room. Kurt's eyes raced around the space, taking it all in. The strong scents of aged books and polished wood hung in the air making it seem stagnate. A fire roared quietly in the middle of the room surrounded by several large armchairs. The darkly stained wood of the floor, bookshelves, and desks left the space in a constant dim light. Even as the fire danced, casting the shadows of the plush chairs and ancient bookshelves, Kurt could sense there was no one in the room, yet.

"Kurt?" Nym asked her voice muffled. At once Kurt realized what he had been doing, basically squishing Nym to his chest, and let go of her shoulders.

"S-sorry!" he stammered, still gripping her hand. Nym gave him a small smile back and gripped his hand even tighter, her small fingers barely encompassing his own.

"Wow… pretty spiffy place…" Nym whispered out as she slowly craned her head to see the entire room.

"Uh, yeah, the Professor really likes these kinds of old fashioned things. I guess this mansion used to be in his family before he turned it into a boarding house for us." He answered trying his best to keep the racing anxiety from his voice.

"Kurt?" the Professor's muffled voice called from outside the door to the lounge. Kurt instinctively tugged Nym behind himself. "May we enter now?"

Kurt glanced back at Nym; her face seemed raw, etched of stone, as though she was becoming something else. "Nym?" Kurt whispered the worry evident in his soft voice.

"I'm fine Kurt, just let them in." Nym answered her voice coarse like gravel.

"But…" he tried to counter, trailing off as he realized he didn't know what to say. "Kurt?" Storm asked her voice softer that the Professor's and full of concern.

"Ah! Sorry, you can…you can come in." Kurt stuttered out. He had meant to make his voice sound more authoritative, more like a protector's should. Instead he heard a scared little boy's word come from his lips. Kurt inwardly chastised himself for not making a good impression but his worries were thrown aside when he glanced back at Nym. She stood behind him, her body tightened. She slowly backed herself up until she was leaning a large wooden reading table, her hands coming up to cross over her stomach. Her eyes were stiff and her jaw strained as she looked to the door.

Kurt had no time to process her actions before the door swung open and the Professor, Storm and Logan walked in. Logan stopped by the doorway and settled himself to lean against its frame, hands folded over his chest and a glare hanging from his eyes. The professor stopped near the fire, being sure to keep his distance.

"Hello, Kurt, Natalie, would you like to take a seat?" Storm asked, setting down a small tea set, as she bridged the gap between Kurt and the Professor. Her soft voice made Kurt want to relax, to just give in, but he held his ground.

"No we're fine standing," Kurt answered backing himself up to stand closer to Nym. "And her name is Nym, not Natalie."

"My apologies." Storm amended, seating herself near the fire in a large armchair as she set out the cups and began to pour the tea.

"Where's Dr. McCoy?" Kurt asked, his nerves straining. He wanted Dr. McCoy there, to back him up. The doctor seemed interested enough in keeping Nym safe and at the institute and at that moment Kurt wanted any and all the help he could get.

"I thought I told you to call me Hank." Dr. McCoy said as he ambled through the doorway. Kurt's eyes lit up and he gave a small smile full of relief. "Ah, and it seems I made it just in time for tea." He added seating himself opposite of Storm with his back towards Kurt and Nym before grabbing a tea cup and taking a long sip.

"Now that we're all here we can begin." The Professor said as Storm handed him a tea cup. She made her rounds, giving Kurt a teacup and placing Nym's on the table near her. Logan refused with a grimace at the cup Storm tried to hand him.

Kurt lifted the cup to his lips and let the warm sweet liquid wash down his throat, it felt good to be warmed from the inside. He glanced over his shoulder to see Nym slowly sipping the tea as well, her cheeks slightly flushed from its warmth.

"Well, let me just start off by apologizing for your rough treatment upon our first meeting." The Professor began. Kurt grimaced slightly as all the implication those words meant. Nym nodded but her face remained ridged as stone. 'Does she know? Does she realize that he tried to kill her?' Kurt asked himself, his eyebrows knitting together in worry and regret.

"Yes, that was quiet the nasty bump on her head." Dr. McCoy said a slight smile on his face as he kept his eyes on his tea. Logan let out a rough cough that took on a rolling growl at the end in response. Dr. McCoy merely smiled wider into his tea.

'What are they doing?' Kurt asked himself. The tension in the room was growing from an argument that Kurt had not been witness to. 'Did the Professor and Hank already argue about this?'

"In any case," the Professor interjected putting a halt to Logan and Dr. McCoy's passive aggressive spat. "She is here now."

"Yes, please Kurt won't you take a seat? You look so uncomfortable standing like that." Storm said, motioning for him to join her on the sofa. At once the room seemed to stiffen. Behind this simple request Kurt sensed a deeper meaning. His heart began to race when he realized everyone was looking at him, staring him down in one way or another, daring him to make a decision. It hadn't escaped Kurt's ears that no one had asked Nym to sit down. They were treating her as if she was air, a thought that had his blood scorching.

Kurt twisted his head to the side to catch a glimpse of Nym; he needed to see how she perceived all of this. To his surprise Nym wasn't looking at him at all. Instead her head was drawn slightly downward to stare at the bottom shelf of a nearby bookcase.

'Doesn't she even care?' he inwardly exclaimed overly frustrated with her current lack of interest in her survival. Then he saw it, her hand that had been leaning on the side of the table was now embedded in it. The carpet around her feet was scrunched up and puckered around her toes; she had been absorbing everything she was touching. Nym wasn't scared, no; she was primed, for an escape, for a fight.

Kurt snapped his head back around, trying not to let the worry show on his face, he didn't want the others to notice how ready to clash she was.

"No, I'm fine standing. Professor, and, not to sound rude, but I would prefer to talk about what will happen now that Nym is at the institute." Kurt answered, narrowing his eyes and evening out his voice. In his own ears he sounded strong, or at least firm, in his resolve.

"Yes, of course, we do have to discuss the current living situation." The Professor answered intertwining his fingers. Again the Professor had skipped over mentioning Nym in his statements. 'Does he really hate her so much?' Kurt asked himself his heart sinking to think that the Professor, a man he had looked up to, could be so quick to judge another.

"She should stay. After you went to all that trouble to find her." Dr. McCoy replied, his voice carrying a certain amount of venom. Logan let out another low grumble from his doorframe post.

"Yes, it is true that we were looking for her," The Professor answered shooting a glare at Dr. McCoy before locking eyes with Kurt. "However, we did not intend to bring her to the institute."

"What do you mean?" Kurt half whispered still caught in the Professor's gaze.

The Professor let out a sigh and his hands, once folded in front of his face, lowered to clasp their respective armrests in a tight grip. "What I mean was that we were not planning on bringing her back with us. Kurt, I did not want you to have to hear this from me, but, seeing as how she," The Professor nodded towards Nym, " has not told you why we were chasing her I have no choice but to inform you myself." The Professor stiffened shooting a hooded glare at Nym, who was still reading the book titles on the shelf seemingly ignoring the conversation.

"But, Professor, she did tell me. Nym told me why she's here, how she got to America and why she was running from us." Kurt answered trying to keep his voice firm even as it filled with uncertainty.

The whole room fell silent as a toxic feeling settled over the room. Kurt's eyes swiveled around to each of the adults before him. Logan's mouth was set into a hard line, his lip curling down slightly as though he were suppressing a growl. The Professor glanced back at Storm with a look of pity in his face. Storm in turn slowly shook her head in what appeared to be disappointment. Kurt couldn't believe this; they were all treating at him as though he was nothing more than a horridly ignorant child! In desperation Kurt turned to Dr. McCoy, surely the doctor didn't feel the same way as they did. Yet, the haggard grimace on Dr. McCoy's face told Kurt otherwise. Kurt felt the blood drain from his face leaving a sudden chill to take his body.

"I don't understand…" Kurt finally said, anxiety building up inside of him, threatening to spill forth in tears and screams.

"Kurt, you know that I am a very accepting person. I have let many students into this institute that were confused and even violent." The Professor explained his voice taking on a softer tone. "However, I'm afraid I cannot allow someone of her…kind to live under this roof."

The blood began to return to Kurt's face, that was what they were so worried about? Her kind, what did the Professor mean? Sure, Nym had admitted to killing a man in her youth when that man was tying to hurt her and he was sure her record for theft wasn't clean but how could they out rightly blame her like this? 'Maybe it's because the Professor can't read her mind so he doesn't know what really happened, maybe that's why they're all so spooked about her. and then there was the instance of her hurting the  
Professor…' Kurt said to himself, connecting what he knew together.

"Professor, I understand your concern, but, Nym is a good person. She wouldn't hurt anyone that she didn't believe was going to harm her. You haven't withheld shelter for the other students that have defended themselves." Kurt finished letting a small smile of relief crawl to his lips.

Kurt had expected the adults to sigh in reprieve, to smile back, to do anything but give him that pitiful stare.

"Kurt, I…I do not believe that your…friend…has been entirely honest." Storm said slowly, her brow knitting together in a somber gaze.

"What? I-I don't…" Kurt answered back, trying to understand what they knew and he didn't. His eyes settled on the Professor, whose face had become tightened, etched in frustrated lines.

"Kurt, she," The Professor spat sending a daggered glare to Nym, "has been part of an underground mutant organization that strives to overthrow humans. She has been helping them since she got to America. This organization has been raiding government buildings, performing terrorist acts and killing people for the past five years."

Kurt was lost, no scratch that, he had completely vanished. Like a blind man in a snow storm grasping at straws. Nothing made sense, everything was insane, inane, horrid, confusing and completely and utterly out of his hands.

"What…?" Kurt began, but couldn't seem to finish. He wasn't even sure what to ask about anymore. Fear ran rampant through his veins. A fear of the truth that the Professor was telling him, a fear of how the other adults agreed with his claims and a fear of how very silent Nym was being.

"I'm sorry," Storm began, her fingers running circles around the tea cup she held as her eyes met Kurt's, "Sorry that you had to learn about her past this way, but-"

"You're wrong!" Kurt screamed interrupting Storm. His voice was laden with despair and doubt. It couldn't be true, none of it, it was all a lie right? 'She told me' he thought glancing back at Nym, her eyes still downcast, 'She told me everything… didn't she?' Kurt's world crashed down around him as Nym raised her head to meet his desperate gaze. Those eyes, those stone carved red eyes, hardened from a life of destitutions and disappointments stared back at him. Nym denied nothing in that gaze; there was no remorse no regret, only a blank stare, an empty dwelling that had long ago been abandoned.

"Kurt, we understand that this is difficult for you to hear. It's not easy for us to tell you these things. We are going to ask for your cooperation now Kurt." The Professor said, his voice growing lower. Kurt's head shot up, Storm was standing, cup no longer in her hands. The Professor stayed where he was but a swift tension was rising in his features.

'Kurt, surely you see now. You see that she cannot be allowed to go free, to live with us, to stay here. We need to stop her from hurting anyone else. Please Kurt; do not make this any more difficult than it will already be.' The Professor pleaded mentally to Kurt.

The sound was sudden, like a door slamming shut, a balloon popping, a skull being cracked. Kurt turned on his heel in what seemed like slow motion to see Logan growling as he leaned over Nym's body. She was bent at the waist, twisted in half, her legs hanging limply from her hips. Logan's right hand held her head to the wooden table she had been leaning on; a large crack in the wood had formed under her skull as her bright pearly hair splayed out around her body. Logan's other hand anchored his body to the table, his knuckles glowing white from the pressure. Splintered pieces of wood fell from Nym's hands where she had been absorbing the table. It wasn't until the air around him had stopped spinning, until Logan had stopped growling that Kurt saw the pool of blood begin to overflow form the crack near Nym's head that he fully grasped what the Professor had meant.

I am very sorry for the lack of updates. I intend to solve this problem and I hope to not have it happen again.


	10. Chapter 10

It was dark; a dank smell ran through the air polluting what he could breathe with its foul stench. There was little light in the small place and the shadows claimed most of what he could see. Strange clinks and clanks would come from the darkness around him but Kurt felt no fear; it was as though he was merely a spectator, watching his own body move forward into the darkness.

Suddenly a tune started up, as though it were being ground out of a rusty music box. Slowly the tune turned to words and Kurt found himself moving towards the sound. The music faded slightly and a small child like voice rose up to complete the words, "Lovely day, come to play, while the hangman is away". Kurt stopped moving, recognizing the tune from a German nursery rhyme. The voice echoed these words and they in turn bounced off the unseen walls all around him. Panic took hold of Kurt, dragged him down as the floor turned to tar beneath his feet. He felt his heart thudding hard against his chest as though it might thump right out of his ribs. Terror overtook him and in a violent struggle he thrashed in a futile attempt to free himself from the tar which had taken on the shape of hard hands that choked his body of movement.

"Kurt!" the voice was familiar, but it had a deafening effect that brought Kurt to the surface of his dream, pulled him up from his muddled thoughts and into his own bed where a very agitated Rouge was attempting to hold his body still.

"Rouge?" Kurt asked, his voice breathless from the struggle of his dream, which he realized had been taking place in reality as well. Rouge had her hands on his forearms gripping him tightly, trying to keep him from thrashing.

"Yeah it's me! So will you stop with the freaking pro wrestling moves?" she shouted. Kurt hadn't even noticed but his leg was wound around her own, bending it in a very unnatural way.

"Oh! I'm sorry Rouge!" Kurt apologized, quickly releasing his leg and letting his arms go slack. At once Rouge let go of him and slumped down in a chair that was pulled up next to Kurt's bed. She swore a few times bending her leg this way and that to make sure it wasn't injured. It was then that Kurt took stock of his surroundings. It was true he was in his bedroom, his sheets wrapped around his clothed body. But, it wasn't his location that sent panic coursing through his veins it was the fact that he could see the moon outside from his window.

On any other evening Kurt would have thought that it was a treat to see the moon so easily from his window, but now it brought on a hurried panic. 'The last time I saw her it was early at least 4am…the last time…' Kurt thought. He glanced up at the moon again silently cursing it for turning time forward.

"How long!" Kurt demanded, sitting himself up and gripping the sheets in his clenched fists. He could feel every muscle in his body tighten as the horror fully washed over him.

"Huh?" Rouge answered still attending to her leg.

"How long have I been asleep?" Kurt yelled. His voice had taken on a severe tone that he saw made Rouge cringe back.

"Only a day!" she answered, her slight fear turning to anger at Kurt's outburst.

"A…day…" Kurt murmured. It only took a second before he was up and walking towards the door.

"Wait!" Rouge screamed stumbling as she whipped herself out of the chair and slid in front of him.

Kurt stopped, staring down at her. It was the first time he ever really straightened himself up to his full six foot height. Suddenly Rouge no longer looked so tough; she looked small, insignificant and easily removable.

"Why?" Kurt ground out, his lips barely parting to let the words out. Anger was not only within him it had become him. He needed no reminder of either what had pushed him into unconsciousness or what they had done to Nym. Those memories were fresh in his mind, but the ones that could give him sanity, the ones that would remind him that the people in the institute were his friends, were suddenly fading.

"Kurt please…" Rouge said, her voice going soft as she looked down, her brow furrowed. Kurt had never seen her look like this and that was enough to momentarily shock him out of his rage induced state.

"Rouge, tell me where she is." Kurt ordered his voice softer, almost haggard with the culmination of events.

"Kurt, I-I can't. You know how they feel about her, the Professor and them. Why push them to this extreme? You don't understand, so just calm down and go back to bed. " Rouge said, saying each word with a child-like slowness. She then glanced upwards to Kurt. Her dark eyes were crinkled from her expression as she gently reached her hand up to his shoulder, letting it set there lightly.

Rouge's touch set him off, he snapped his body away from hers in a sharp movement, backing away slightly. Kurt was no fool; he knew well what Rouge could do without those gloves. And chances were that if the adults had asked Rouge to guard him they had expected her to use her powers to keep him under their control.

Kurt suddenly realized what she had just said, how she had accused him of being the foolish one! 'How dare she' the thought ran rampant through Kurt's mind twisting Rouge into a vicious being.

"Fuck you!" Kurt screamed channeling his anger into his words, letting his voice shake the room. "Fuck you all! How in the hell can you say that? How in the hell can _you_! Were you so freaking different!"

Kurt began to pace back and forth in front of Rouge watching as her eyes flew wide at his crass words. But he wasn't done yet; "It's been three years, three goddamned years of this shit! You don't think I'm smart enough to understand what's going on? You think I'm some damn child who can't put two and fucking two together!"

"Kurt just calm…" Rouge began. But no sooner had she started than Kurt advanced towards her, his tail whipping back and forth behind him in anger as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Rouge slowly backed away, taking careful steps away from Kurt's approaching form.

"No! No more calm! No more nice! No more fucking letting you all treat me like this! Like I'm not even a living thing!" Kurt shouted, his voice going hoarse at the end. At this Rouge abruptly stopped backing away, her face had turned from mild fear to confusion.

"W-what?" Rouge stammered out.

"You heard me! Goddamit, it's about time you heard me!" Kurt screamed, resuming his anger fueled pacing as he fidgeted irritably with his hair, running his hands through it, trying to hide his face. 'I won't let her see me cry!' he inwardly swore. His anger had taken a surprising turn. Instead of defending Nym he had gone into a breakdown, re-living all those times he had been the team's punching bag.

"Kurt…I-I don't-" Rouge tried to begin. However she was interrupted by Kurt's swift movement as he unexpectedly took a step towards her.

"Of course you don't! You never did! For all that our stupid 'sibling' bond was you never thought of anything but what you were going through! What about me? What about me!" he had broken. The tears ran down his face, covering his cheeks in a thick stream of salt. But for all his words, for all his declarations, no sobs wracked his body, no choking breath tried to stifle him. It was so much less climactic.

"Kurt…" Rouge whispered. He could tell she had nothing to say, his name had merely been an automated response.

"Just tell me…. Tell me where she is…" Kurt said. The tears still fell from his eyes but his voice was surprisingly even, almost casual in a way.

Rouge looked down, unable to meet his stone like gaze. Slwoly she lowered herself to the ground. Bringing her knees up Rouge wrapped her arms around them, tilting her head down. "They're not here, the adults. The Professor took Logan, Storm and Dr. McCoy to a treatment center for mutants to discuss sending her there. The Professor wants her locked up. They told me to make sure you stayed under, to try and control you if you wake up." Rouge confessed. "But they didn't take her. She's here, in the lab. They have her all hooked up to these machines that are feeding her medicine to keep her under. The Professor said he had to leave her here until they were sure that the facility could take her."

Kurt let out a small sigh, his tears had stopped and the exhaustion from his outburst was beginning to settle in his bones.

"So, when are you going to try and restrain me then?" Kurt asked quietly.

"I…I can't…" Rouge answered squeezing her knees even closer to herself.

"Thank you Rouge." He answered as he walked around her slumped form and towards the door.

"They'll come for you, you know that? The Professor, he hates her. The things he says about her… I just… I've never seen him that way before. He won't let her go… he won't just let her escape so she can hurt more people. The Professor cares for justice and peace too much to allow it." Rouge said in an attempt to persuade Kurt out of his next course of action.

"Then what about the people who hurt her? What about the two times that the Professor has tried to kill her? What about that? Where do you see the justice in those actions? And what about the bruises on her body, the broken bones, the scares that still mar her skin? Where was justice when those things happened?" Kurt asked the pain evident in his voice.

A silence consumed them then. Rouge with no response and Kurt with nothing left to prove. He made a movement for the door then and in one last attempt Rouge let out a deep sigh.

"Kurt?" she asked lifting her head from her knees. "Why are we doing this to each other? How did everything, all that we've been through, come to this?" Kurt stopped; he felt a trill of guilt go up his spine.

"It didn't have to…" Kurt answered his voice trailing off.

"And how did you expect it to end?" she asked her tone desperate.

"I didn't expect it to end at all…"Kurt said. At his words Rouge's head shot up in surprise. She was just about to say something when a loud bamf sounded throughout the room signaling Kurt's teleportation. Rouge was left with no one to hear her whispers of apology and quite tears.


End file.
